Enjoy her post, and read more about Kathleen at the end of the story.

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I’m not sure that many people attended Mercury Opera’s production of Madame Opera the weekend of August 27th, but, for those of us who made it out to this unique outdoor event, it was totally worth it.

I have to admit sometimes to being a “hater” when it comes to my hometown — mostly when it comes to the events that happen in parks. They always seem to have the look of empty festivals that leave you with the feeling of, “gee if we were just in a bigger city, this event wouldn’t feel so dead or empty.”

That being said, being a producer of events I understand how much work and money it takes to put on a well-conceived event, never mind all the work it takes to produce a successful show with high artistic talent.

This intimate, alternatively staged, “reader’s digest” version of production of Madame Butterfly was a version that even on this bit chilly of an evening, was engaging and emotionally moving. What really stuck out with this unique production of Madame Butterfly however was the alternative space in which to hold an opera and how the whole evening was packaged. It was a special night I’m sure to everyone who attended.

The gala began at 6pm and you were invited to three places along 95 St. in the Little Italy district. You got to travel between each place Spinelli’s Café, Zocali, and the new Delish Bakery just off 95St, and 107 ave. sampling small snacks, and various wines, as each place hosted casual reception fair with a neighbourly welcoming vibe.

You then made your way through the big elm trees and past the playground to the large tent in the middle of Giovanni Caboto Park. Feeling a bit like you’re walking into a circus tent, inside you were instantly struck by the mini theatre set up inside, not a bad seat in the house, little trees designing the space and an actual live orchestra awaiting you.

The audience unfortunately did not fill all the seats, probably, not even half, but somehow you didn’t get the feeling like you were at some unpopular party that no one bothered to go to. Instead you had the feeling, especially as the show progressed that you were lucky enough to have stumbled on the best kept secret in town, an intimate and relatively small performance space with romantic tenors and sopranos singing just for you and your friends.

Mercury Opera’s founder and artistic director, Darcia Parada although working back and forth from New York City and Edmonton for the past years has thankfully chosen to stay in Edmonton, and bringing with her the inspiration she had participating in performance culture in NYC back to Edmonton. Her biography tells us she “began dreaming of staging opera in unusual spaces” after performing La Boheme in a loft in Tribeca.

If you’ve ever lived, worked or traveled in NYC it’s not hard to be inspired by the seemingly endless array of alternative ways to see performances. If you have any experience producing shows, site-specific shows in alternative spaces in particular, you can’t help to notice when that alternative space works or doesn’t. You become extra sensitive to when there is no real attention to the space itself and how an event can seem just “plunked” down somewhere without any consideration for how the space is being used in relation to what’s happening. It is a challenge to create an event in inspired space — have it functional and yet designed so it doesn’t look empty, to envision how the audience is going to engage and see the performance space, and to consider the overall flow of the evening, what people in general will want to be doing in between the entertainment, how they will flow, where the bathrooms are, etc.

Mercury Opera seemed to have considered it all, from the first step into the mini magical world inside the tent, to the size and design of the performance and audience space, to intermission where you exited the tent only to find fireworks just steps away, giving a small but not chintzy display of fireworks, (even more interesting if you had read in the program that the fireworks themselves had been colored and choreographed by the theme of the characters of the opera), to the porta-potties a little distance away, if you were like me and perhaps got a little carried away by the free prossecco offered earlier.

It’s such a nice surprise when the vision fits to the size of the “fishtank” so to speak, having the right sized cast, a well-rehearsed, professional cast and orchestra, simple yet professional lighting, simple yet well designed set and stage direction, a well-thought out audience seating arrangement. The show itself can then really come alive and the strength of performance be highlighted in the space rather than having all the elements detract from it, again leaving you with a feeling, “well, that was a good idea at least…”

No, the Mercury’s opera staging of Madame Butterfly was an incredibly well done experiment, showcasing some real up and coming musical talent, all flown in from New York to perform in a beautiful welcoming event full of appreciative, well- cared for guests.

This is a shout out to Mercury Opera for having the guts, and skills in contributing an inspired vision to Edmonton’s own burgeoning performance culture.

Kathleen Ochoa is an Edmonton-based dance artist, teacher, producer, writer and researcher in the burgeoning field of embodiment studies. She has lived, studied and worked as dancer and yoga instructor in NYC, Montreal, Marseille, Paris, and Rome.

That’s more or less the premise behind Gargamel, a new tragicomedy by Trent Wilkie and the folks over at Mostly Water Theatre.

The play revolves around David (Wilkie), a man who’s survived a terrible car crash that left him badly injured, and stole his fiancee (Ellen Chorley). He’s coping – but only just – and, well, he’s not all there anymore. He’s badly depressed, suffering from blackouts and headaches, is haunted by a bitter Louis Riel (Matt Stanton), and has decided that his problems are largely the result of God.

And he’s going to kick God’s ass.

Concerned – and rightly so – David’s sister (Joleen Ballendine) decided some therapy would good for him. So she arranges for him to meet with her yoga-instructor, a new-age guru named Alex Andre (Craig Buchert) who tries to help him out.

As a play, Gargamel is well staged, with some smart video worked into the show – so a kudos to director Mike Robertson. There are also  some really funny moments that had Nita and I laughing out loud. And there’s some stand-out performances. In particular, we really liked Craig Buchert’s spiritual “doctor” and Matt Stanton’s snarky ghost.

Does David get to fight God? Does he get the catharsis he’s desperately in need of? What’s up with Louis Riel being there, anyway? Guess you’ll have to check it out.

Gargamel runs until March 5 at the Varscona Theatre. You can get advance tickets at TIX on the square, or buy them at the door.

Justin Bieber, bigger than the Beatles since 2010

I won’t lie to you. I rarely know who anyone on the cover of the magazines at the grocery store are. It seems that I have to watch Saturday Night Live just to even attempt to keep up to date. It wasn’t until Tina Fey hosted her old show with musical guest Justin Bieber that I learned that Canada had a young pop-star that is winning over the rest of the world.

Imagine my surprise when I opened my Flixster ap on my Blackberry to see that there is a Justin Bieber movie! How long has this kid been around for I wondered. Michael Jackson didn’t get a concert movie until after he died. Now, this guy gets a movie when he seemingly just started. I just don’t get what makes a person famous anymore I guess.

This brings me to my most recent discovery. This past weekend, old favourite Dana Carvey came back to host an episode of SNL. This of course meant the return of old skits, starting with Wayne’s World. This was great, and just as funny as it used to be. Next up, Church Lady! Here is where I needed my old pal Wikipedia. The first guests were the Kardashians. I’ve heard the names before, but had never put any thought or effort into figuring out who they are. This time, they were such a focus in the skit that I just had to look them up. I am embarrassed to say that I still don’t understand why they are famous. One page said that it was because Kim Kardashian is friends with Paris Hilton. Really?! That’s enough to make a person famous now? That bothers me a little, and brings up the real question, how did people become famous before reality television and the internet.

There have always been rich people, and these rich people have always had rich, ridiculous kids. I’m sure these kids have always spent money lavishly on whatever they felt like, but I think more of us were just blissfully unaware of that fact. I really don’t think that there are more Kardashians or Hiltons; it’s just that they not only have a platform now, but they have multiple platforms.

Now comes the hard part, how do we make them go away? As simple as this may sound, it’s the same advice your mother gave you about that kid who was staring at you in grade one - just ignore them. Southpark even did an episode along the same lines. As hard as it is, the only way these “celebrities” who are famous for just being young and rich will lose their spotlight is when we all stop watching them, stop buying magazines featuring them, stop tweeting about them. Sadly, that is much easier said than done. We as a society get too much “entertainment” value out of watching these people, likely because it’s an easy laugh and it makes you feel better about yourself and your life choices.

I anxiously await the day we would hear what scientists or educated leaders  have to say rather than what Snookie from Jersey Shore has to say about the current state of our society. But should that day never come, should we never reach a point where we lose interest in rich spoiled kids, at least we will be entertained. Sigh.

There are two sides to every story

What if the Wicked Witch of the West wasn’t bad? What if  Dorothy wasn’t as innocent as she seemed? That’s exactly what Gregory Maguire tells us in his novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. Maguire is the same author who wrote Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister. I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear that this is from the perspective of one of Cinderella’s step sisters. Wicked is a whole new telling of the Wizard of Oz that is witty and a very enjoyable read. This novel also reminds you that there are indeed usually two sides to every story. You might even start to feel bad for the Wicked Witch of the West. In this novel she didn’t have a very easy life and well, circumstances were outside of her control. I don’t want to spoil any plots as there are several sites out there  that can do that for you. Not only that, but I’m sure this will eventually become a movie. Hollywood must be running out of ideas when children’s movies staring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson are what it’s come to.

Wicked the novel has been adapted for a Broadway musical. As many of you do not live in New York, nor do you likely spend too much time there, we can only hope that such shows will tour. Well, are we ever in luck! Broadway Across Canada has brought some fun shows lately such as Fiddler on the Roof, Grease and Jersey Boys, to both Edmonton and Calgary. This summer, they bring us Wicked. This show will only be playing during the summer when you are stuck enjoying family weddings, reunions and out on vacation so you might want to look at the schedule soon if this is something you might want to consider seeing.

The best thing about live theatre is the feeling of being there. There is something different about seeing a live play versus a movie. They both play out in front of you, but a movie is two dimensional and you know that it’s just a projection. When you go to theatre, you see the live people, you can be amazed by the stage and the changes in scenery. Live theatre is also one of the oldest forms of entertainment our society has, just look at how it’s evolved and is still able to entertain.

You don’t need to read the book before seeing the play. If you want to read the book first, you should have time. Well, unless the waiting list for it at the library is still really long. You might want to check out your favourite book store. Just follow the yellow brick road.

And with this week’s announcement of the nominees, it’s also time for my yearly tradition of giving you my knee-jerk Oscar picks – which are guaranteed to be totally accurate.*

Let’s begin shall we?

Like last year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences is keeping with their new plan to nominate a whopping ten movies for the Best Picture category. This allows “127 Hours” and “Toy Story 3″ to rub shoulders with powerhouses like “The Fighter” and “The Social Network”.

I actually want to make something painfully clear here. Why nominate “Toy Story 3″ for Best Picture? It has it’s own category in Animated Feature Film. Say what you will about the quality of the movie – and “Toy Story 3″ is indisputably amazing - but singling it out for a Best Picture award out of it’s competition for the animated category seem supremely unfair. “The Illusionist” and “How to Train Your Dragon” may as well not even show up – how can they compete when they didn’t get nominated for Best Picture?

Ah well. Lets run down some numbers. Leading the pack this year is “The King’s Speech” with 12 nominations. To put that in perspective there are 24 major awards handed out on Oscar night – so “The King’s Speech” is competing for literally half of them.

Now, most people might expect the highly touted “The Social Network” to be nipping at the King’s heels – and those people would be totally wrong. “True Grit” comes in second with a total of 10 nominations. Next up “The Social Network” ties with “Inception” with 8, and rounding out the top five is “The Fighter” with 7 nominations.

So, without further ado, we’ll start picking winners. As always we start with the crappy awards, and work our way up to the statues that people actually care about. Or you can skip to the end to see a handy list of all the nominees along with my picks depicted in glamourous Red Carpet Red.

First things off, “True Grit” will earn itself a pair of awards in sound mixing and sound editing. They can’t bank on winning much else, but they’ll pick up some fluff early on in the night.

Next up “Inception” will be awarded some of the technical awards with an Oscar for art direction, cinematography and visual effects. There’s no denying that it’s a visually wonderful film – but it’s not going to score too much in the acting or directing areas.

Into costumes and makeup, we won’t be too surprised to see “The King’s Speech” get it’s first of many Oscars for costuming. As always, the Academy loves accurate period pieces. Makeup will go to the criminally under-nominated “Barney’s Version.”

In the documentary category “Exit through the Gift Shop” will get it for long subject, and “Poster Girl” will snap up a short subject award. And in the areas of movies you’ll probably never see, foreign film will go to “Biutiful,” which is a shame because a solid Canadian film is among the contenders.

Short films will go to “Wish 143″ in the live action area, and “Night & Day” for animated.

In the musical fields “The Social Network” will grab it’s first award for best original score – landing Trent Reznor a Oscar. Weird, I know. Original song will go to “Country Song” with “Coming Home.” Sorry, Disney.

This takes us up to the writing categories. Aaron Sorkin will get a shiny statue for “The Social Network” in the best adapted category. Unsurprisingly, “The King’s Speech” will take gold in the original category.

Okay. No is going to be shocked when “Toy Story 3″ gets best animated feature film, right? Moving on.

We’re up to the big stuff now. Having already earned Golden Globes for themselves, Colin Firth and Natalie Portman will become Oscar winners for the best leads in “The King’s Speech” and “Black Swan” respectively. In the supporting categories, things will get a little different with Geoffrey Rush also for “The King’s Speech,” and “True Grit” actress Hailee Steinfeld snapping up the trophies.

Anyone up for a best picture Oscar who isn’t also up for best director may as well go beat the rush to the parking lot at this point. So that leaves five solid contenders – but really, most critics say it’s a battle between two films. “The Social Network” and “The King’s Speech.” And I only highlighted one of those names, and that’s the one that’s taking direction and best picture.

Good work everyone! See you at the after party!

The 83rd Academy Awards
Performance by an actor in a leading role
Javier Bardem (“Biutiful”), Jeff Bridges (“True Grit”), Jesse Eisenberg (“The Social Network”), Colin Firth (“The King’s Speech”), James Franco (“127 Hours”)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Christian Bale (“The Fighter”), John Hawkes (“Winter’s Bone”), Jeremy Renner (“The Town”), Mark Ruffalo (“The Kids Are All Right”), Geoffrey Rush (“The King’s Speech”)

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Annette Bening (“The Kids Are All Right”), Nicole Kidman (“Rabbit Hole”), Jennifer Lawrence (“Winter’s Bone”), Natalie Portman (“Black Swan”), Michelle Williams (“Blue Valentine”)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Amy Adams (“The Fighter”), Helena Bonham Carter (“The King’s Speech”), Melissa Leo (“The Fighter”), Hailee Steinfeld (“True Grit”), Jacki Weaver (“Animal Kingdom”)

Best animated feature film of the year
“How to Train Your Dragon” (Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois), “The Illusionist” (Sylvain Chomet), “Toy Story 3” (Lee Unkrich)

Achievement in art direction
“Alice in Wonderland” (Robert Stromberg, Karen O’Hara), “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” (Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan), “Inception” (Guy Hendrix Dyas, Larry Dias, Doug Mowat), “The King’s Speech”(Eve Stewart, Judy Farr), “True Grit” (Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh)

Achievement in cinematography
“Black Swan” (Matthew Libatique), “Inception” (Wally Pfister), “The King’s Speech” (Danny Cohen), “The Social Network” (Jeff Cronenweth), “True Grit” (Roger Deakins)

Achievement in costume design
“Alice in Wonderland” (Colleen Atwood), “I Am Love” (Antonella Cannarozzi), “The King’s Speech” (Jenny Beavan), “The Tempest” (Sandy Powell), “True Grit” (Mary Zophres)

Achievement in directing
“Black Swan” (Darren Aronofsky), “The Fighter” (David O. Russell), “The King’s Speech” (Tom Hooper), “The Social Network” (David Fincher), “True Grit” (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen)

Best documentary feature
“Exit through the Gift Shop” (Banksy, Jaimie D’Cruz), “Gasland” (Josh Fox, Trish Adlesic), “Inside Job” (Charles Ferguson, Audrey Marrs), “Restrepo”(Tim Hetherington, Sebastian Junger), “Waste Land” (Lucy Walker, Angus Aynsley)

Best documentary short subject
“Killing in the Name” (tba), “Poster Girl” (tba), “Strangers No More” (Karen Goodman, Kirk Simon), “Sun Come Up” (Jennifer Redfearn, Tim Metzger), “The Warriors of Qiugang” (Ruby Yang, Thomas Lennon)

Achievement in film editing
“Black Swan” (Andrew Weisblum), “The Fighter″ (Pamela Martin), “The King’s Speech” (Tariq Anwar), “127 Hours” (Jon Harris), “The Social Network” (Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter)

Best foreign language film of the year
“Biutiful” (Mexico), “Dogtooth” (Greece), “In a Better World” (Denmark), “Incendies” (Canada), “Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” (Algeria)

Achievement in makeup
“Barney’s Version” (Adrien Morot), “The Way Back” (Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk, Yolanda Toussieng),“The Wolfman” (Rick Baker, Dave Elsey)

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original Score)
“How to Train Your Dragon” (John Powell), “Inception” (Hans Zimmer), “The King’s Speech” (Alexandre Desplat), “127 Hours” (A.R. Rahman), “The Social Network” (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross)

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original Song)
“Coming Home” (“Country Song”, music and lyrics Tom Douglas, Troy Verges, Hillary Lindsey), “I See the Light” (“Tangled”, music Alan Menken, lyrics Glenn Slater), “If I Rise” (“127 Hours″, music A.R. Rahman, lyrics Dido, Rollo Armstrong), “We Belong Together” (“Toy Story 3”, music and lyrics Randy Newman)

Best motion picture of the year
“Black Swan” (Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver, Scott Franklin), “The Fighter” (David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, Mark Wahlberg), “Inception″ (Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan), “The Kids Are All Right” (Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Celine Rattray), “The King’s Speech” (Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin),“127 Hours” (Christian Colson, Danny Boyle, John Smithson), “The Social Network” (Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca, Cean Chaffin), “Toy Stroy 3” (Darla K. Anderson), “True Grit” (Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen), “Winter’s Bone” (Anne Rosellini, Alix Madigan-Yorkin)

Best animated short film
“Day & Night” (Teddy Newton), “The Gruffalo” (Jakob Schuh, Max Land), “Let’s Pollute” (Geefwee Boedoe), “The Lost Thing” (Shaun Tan, Andrew Ruhemann), “Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)” (Bastien Dubois)

Best live action short film
“The Confession” (Tanel Toom), “The Crush” (Michael Creagh), “God of Love” (Luke Matheny), “Ne Wewe” (Ivan Goldschmidt), “Wish 143” (Ian Barnes, Samantha Waite)

Achievement in sound editing
“Inception” (Richard King), “Toy Story 3” (Tom Myers, Michael Silvers),“Tron: Legacy” (Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Addison Teague), “True Grit” (Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey), “Unstoppable” (Mark P. Stoeckinger)

Achievement in sound mixing
“Inception” (Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo, Ed Novick), “The King’s Speech” (Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen, John Midgley), “Salt” (Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan, William Sarokin),“The Social Network” (Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Mark Weingarten), “True Grit” (Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff, Peter F. Kurland)

Achievement in visual effects
“Alice in Wonderland” (Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas, Sean Phillips), “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1″ (Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz, Nicolas Aithadi), “Hereafter” (Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojansky, Joe Farrell), “Inception” (Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley, Peter Bebb), “Iron Man 2″ (Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright, Daniel Sudick)

Adapted screenplay
“127 Hours″ (Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy), “The Social Network” (Aaron Sorkin), “Toy Story 3” (Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich), “True Grit” (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen), “Winter’s Bone” (Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini)

Original screenplay
“Another Year” (Mike Leigh), “The Fighter” (Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, Keith Dorrington), “Inception” (Christopher Nolan), “The Kids Are All Right” (Lisa Cholodenko, Stuart Blumberg), “The King’s Speech” (David Seidler)

* Accuracy not guaranteed.

But I’ll admit I’ve never been very knowledgeable about wine. Oh, I like wine – but it’s not my go-to alcohol, and I can’t say I really know much difference between a pinot-noir and a chardonnay. I know that some wine is red, and some is white. And I prefer the white one.

So when Adam and I were invited to a sneak-preview of the Flavours of BC’s Naramata Bench Wine Tasting & Auction, I was quite thrilled! It was a great opportunity to get to know a little more about a beverage I really don’t know too much about.

I brought along the fiancee, Anita, and we met up with Adam at the Winspear… and there was almost no one else there. Around 20 people had been invited out to partake, but due to the insane winter weather we’ve been experiencing, only 5 of us were willing to brave the storm.

The perfect evening for wine.

So it turned into a very cozy evening with a few friends, some of the Winspear staff and three very knowledgeable and awesome wine merchants.

And the wine was really good! We got to enjoy about nine different wine selections from a few different companies; Kettle Valley, La Frenz, Lake Breeze and Laughing Stock. The selections were all very unique, and all quite delicious – even the reds, which I mentioned I’m not usually that fond of.

I also cannot overstate how impressive the wine merchants were. All three of them were experienced, knowledgeable and fun. Valerie Albrecht, Spike Maynard and Tony Kokoroyannis will also all be at the big event on the 28th – seek them out!

Which brings us to the big event, itself. The wine tasting and auction is January 28th at the Winspear Centre. A VIP tasting sold out quickly, but regular tickets for the tasting and auction are available and run about $90.

That 90-bucks gets you a sampling of some 47 wines from a number of BC wineries, as well as an evening of music, mingling and hors d’oeuvres. The auction is also offering a bunch of awesome prizes for bidding. Among the items up for grabs; a five-course meal for eight on the Winspear stage, a year’s worth of professional cello lessons and admission and tuition to the UofA School of Business Executive Program!

And, of course, all the proceeds go to a pretty good cause – it’s in support of our ESO and Winspear Centre.

And I think I can safely speak for Adam and Anita as well when I say if the big event on the 28th is HALF as fun as the preview, it’ll be well worth your time and money to check out.

And you bastards complained and complained about all the movies we didn’t put on the list.

So in the spirit of – not the season – but of you being totally unpleasable, we return to our semi-regular Watch This feature with more of the holiday movies Adam and I both love.

And, hopefully, your cold, black hearts will be sated with our choices this year.

Once again, to keep things festive, Scott’s comments will be in Rudolph red, and Adam’s will be in Grinchy green.

Trading Places (1983)

Starring: Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, Denholm Elliott, Jamie Lee Curtis

It’s been a while since I’ve seen Trading Places, but I remember it being quite a good movie. Essentially the plot revolves around the Duke brothers, a pair of rich stock traders, making a bet about “nature versus nurture.” They decide to see what happens if change the social circumstances of snooty, upper-class employee Louis Winthorpe III, with down-on-his-luck con man Billy Ray Valentine.

What ensues is a hilarious – and at times heartbreaking – look at one man’s descent into utter destitution, and one man’s rise to glory.

Is this a Christmas movie? Yes. Christmas does play an important role in the story, and if anything, the fact that it takes place over the holidays only makes what the Duke brothers do to Winthorpe and Valentine even more cruel and callous.

Trading Places is absolutely worth checking out if you’ve never seen it. It’s a modern retelling of The Prince and the Pauper with a fun twist.

Ah yes, the Duke brothers. Wealthy dudes who place a $1-bet that essentially ruins Dan Aykroyd’s life. Since that time, of course, Aykroyd’s done much of that job on his own, voicing Yogi Bear in the upcoming motion picture, and releasing his own vodka that includes a fashionable skull-shaped container that agencies like the LCBO refuse to carry.

But I digress, because regardless of Aykroyd’s recent real-life fall from grace — or slightly latter and below-latter shift downwards from grace — Trading Places is one of those classic 1980s comedies with just the right tinge of Christmas to it.

And besides, Eddie Murphy’s at his best when he’s basically playing himself, NOT wearing a fat suit and NOT acting in a film with animal- and child-protagonists.

Gremlins (1984)

Starring: Hoyt Axton, Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Frances Lee McCain, Corey Feldman

Rule number one, don’t expose it to bright light. Rule number two, don’t get it wet. Rule number three, don’t feed it after midnight. These are the three rules Rand Peltzer is given when he buys a Mogwai he names “Gizmo” – and then gives the furry critter to his son as a Christmas present.

And there wouldn’t be a story if all three of those rules weren’t broken in short order.

It turns out when you get Gizmo wet, he reproduces. If a Mogwai eats after midnight, he’ll turn into a hideous creature dubbed a “Gremlin.” And sunlight, of course, can kill them.

Gremlins is a strange mix of horror movie and comedy. The antics of the titular creatures are absolutely malicious, but ultimately also done for laughs. And the creatures die in some of the most hilariously gory ways imaginable.

This movie is a classic, and is actually fairly tame by horror movie standards – it’s rated PG-13. The somewhat more comedic sequel is also worth checking out as it really is a case of “so bad it’s awesome.”

I saw a gremlin once. It was gnawing on the face of a long-dead homeless man. The I woke up, to find my cat liking my face, demanding to be fed her breakfast.

And let me just say that if you’re hoping to score a cuddly pet, a cat is really the way to get. If you get them wet, they become ornery; if you expose them to light, they’ll lay down and feel its warmth; if you feed them after midnight, they might not wake you up at five AM in the fucking morning before you have to go to work.

Gremlins doesn’t care about cats, though. And as far as Christmas movies go, if you can deal with the fact that this film hasn’t aged particularly well you might actually enjoy this romp through what apparently passed as acceptable horror in 1984. Like Scott says, it’s a classic. And any film that ends with an all-out battle in a hardware store is aces in my books.

Batman Returns (1992)

Starring: Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken

Oh, Batman. I can’t imagine a movie series that has seen more ups and downs. Fortunately, Batman Returns falls firmly into the “up” category.

Set over Christmas, the story revolves mainly around the machinations of the Max Shreck – an unscrupulous businessman. You might think that The Penguin is the villain, or Catwoman, but that’s really not the case. Max is the glue that binds them together, and he’s the driving antagonist behind much of the action.

Suffice to say, in typical Tim Burton fashion, the darkness of the plot and environment are juxtaposed with the traditional festive atmosphere of Christmas-time. There’s a lot of interesting use of monochrome, as well – Batman, Penguin and Catwoman all primarily wear black, and that plays off well against the snowy backdrops.

Batman Returns was the last good film before Joel Schumacher came along with his Kilmers and his Clooneys to ruin the series bad enough for a reboot. It’s definitely worth the dollar-bin prices you can find it at.

And remember, mistletoe is deadly if you eat it.

The best part of Batman Returns, other than the fact that it takes place over Christmas — which in Gotham is just about as depressing as a Christmas with the Klumps, except with increased crime and street-drug use — is the fact that it star Christopher Walken. He plays the role of Max Schrek (whose namesake is actually this man), a political con man who will stop at nothing to crush those in his path, and who plays the public like a fiddle.

Until Oswald “Penguin” Cobblepot gets his mutated hands on him.

Forget the atmosphere, the gloom, the [very sexy] Catwoman, or even DeVito’s excellent portrayal of the Penguin. You’re in this for Christopher Walken. Oh, and Christmas.

Die Hard (1988)

Starring: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson, Alexander Godunov, Paul Gleason

This is one of those classic action films that everyone should have already seen. I’m serious, if you’ve never seen Die Hard, it’s because you hate freedom. So I’m “spoiler alerting” anything that comes next.

All John McClane wants to do is visit his estranged family for Christmas – a situation complicated when his wife is taken hostage by terrorists led by Hans Gruber. McClane, in true action hero style, becomes a one-man army who takes down the terrorists, gets the shit kicked out of him at intervals, and drops Snape off a building with the iconic badass quip “Yippie kai-yay, Motherfucker.”

Yes, it’s a holiday film for the whole family.

Explosions, German terrorists, and Bruce Fuckin’ Willis. If you hate this movie, you hate freedom, America and the entire Harry Potter series. Why mention Harry Potter? Why, because Alan Rickman is the villain in Die Hard. And his villainy is first-rate.

This is a high-action, cat-and-mouse game where Willis’ McClane stays one step ahead of the terrorists and eventually brings every last one of them down. And he also walks bare-foot on fuckin’ glass. GLASS!

Did I mention Alan Rickman?

If you don’t like this movie, you’re a soulless wank who should go back to watching Bridget Jones’ Diary and blowing your nose into a lacy kerchief. You disgust me.

Oh, and Merry Christmas!

Fill your cart without emptying your wallet!

‘Tis the season for long lines, no parking spots, that Paul McCartney song playing in every single store you go to, and endless frustrations around every corner. Another added concern and issue that pops up during the holiday time is money stress. Arguments over money and spending causes strife between couples and no one wants to go into debt for the sake of giving the ultimate gift. How do you cross everything off of your list and survive until January?

There are deals out there, you just have to be aware of them. More and more, retailers such as the Bay and Future Shop are turning to “power sales” and mailing lists with additional coupons. Yesterday alone I saved more than $200 on a much needed new duvet and was able to purchase a 2-terabyte external hard drive $60 off. By shopping online, you can often find some really great deals including free shipping to you, or your intended recipient and often at a great discount.

Why would it be cheaper to buy online? Less staff have to be paid and you are not paying for the store front or the display. I do worry about this potentially leading to the removal of some jobs, but on the other hand doesn’t it seem that your neighbourhood discount department store doesn’t quite have enough staff during the holidays let alone during the rest of the year? Besides, you will be indirectly employing warehouse staff and Canada Post so at some point this must balance out.

If you aren’t into shopping at big box stores, or shopping online, harness the power of the net to find that neat little specialty store that you didn’t know existed. Sites such as Groupon, Calgary Blog Deals and Edmonton Blog Deals offer a daily newsletter featuring local businesses you may not have know about, and deals that you definitely would not have known about. With Groupons, you can harness the power of buying in bulk without knowing anyone else who wants in on the deal. For example, last month I was able to buy tickets for the Calgary Opera at half price.

At this time of year, every store is battling for your hard earned dollar and by increasing their volume of sales, retailers are able to offer you a discounted price. Whether you are in favour or not, retailers are turning more and more to the internet not only to promote their stores, but also to advertise their sales entising you to give them a slice of your Christmas shopping list.

By shopping online, or even just signing up for mailing lists you will often be privy to additional discounts, friends and family sales, you’ll know about one day only in store sales and then there is the power of google and discount coupon codes. It doesn’t matter if you are on a particular store’s mailing list if you can google the store’s name and check for coupon codes yourself. You may have to try a few, or click on a number of pages but the few minutes sitting at your computer could save you a lot of money.

I know that many of you are computer savvy — I mean, you’re here right? — but some of you haven’t thought of checking to see if places you shop have mailing lists or coupons. Harness the power of the web I say! Do a little research before you venture off to the mall, and even make yourself a list and you just may keep your sanity and home life together.

In another life, I was the Arts editor at a small newspaper. There, the seedling that was my love for music blossomed. I tried out new genres, venturing beyond my old standby (skate punk) and really embracing rock, folk, hip hop, electronica, and even some country music — though I should note at this point that the only country I listen to is sung by a former punk musician by the name of Corb Lund.

Yes, in spite of my admittedly diverse taste in music, there’s one band I can’t seem to get behind. It’s not that I hate their music, it’s just that when I hear it on the radio, I’d just assume change the channel. And I can’t really explain why.

When I was a kid, me and brothers used to go to arcades all the time. I love them! I also really liked fire, and when I was an irresponsible youth, I once created a tennis-ball bomb with a friend and accidentally exploded a small tree. Fire is awesome.

But if I love both arcades and fires, why don’t I like Arcade Fire?

I don’t hate them, but I also don’t get why so many people think they’re awesome. And I really feel like I’m missing out, so I’m asking for your help. Help me to understand what makes this popular Canadian band great. Tell me what they mean to you, tell me how their music moves you. And tell me three songs from their records that I should listen to to shore up my support.

I don’t want to be a hate-tank. Music’s all about the love. SHOW ME HOW TO LOVE!

As a huge fan of the zombie genre, I would like to believe this to be true, but I’m not going to just accept the premise at face value. The article argues that zombies will supplant vampires as the horror genre of choice among the masses. You’ll recall a long while back, it was slasher films.

But the Twilight series, TV shows like True Blood, and films like Daybreakers have kept the spotlight on vampires for a good long while. And though the occasional zombie gems shows up on the big screen — think Zombieland with Jesse Eisenberg — most of the zombie movies released (often in the name of George Romero) are far less impactful as far as the genre goes.

There is one outlier that could thrust the zombie horror subgenre, and that’s the forthcoming release of the AMC TV series the Walking Dead, based on the comic books. This series is so much anticipated that when it’s released on Halloween this year, it will be released at around the same time in 120 different countries around the world — you know, to prevent people from sharing it outside of the networks’ hands over the internet.

It may not seem like a big deal, but it is.

And is this not an indication of the sort of underground reverence the zombie has? Moreover, is it not an indication of fascination with the fall of civilization through some rapid, violent disease that turns friends and loved one into mindless flesh-eaters?

The Walking Dead deals with the zombie phenomenon in a unique way: the zombies are somewhat incidental. More relevant to the plot, the thing that keeps the story moving isn’t the huge kill, the big battle of man versus zombie. It’s the way human beings deal with their new isolation, their new position away from the top of the food chain.

Maybe this new survival horror will be to my generation what the threat of all-out nuclear war was to Generation X… Mind you nuclear war seems much more tangible even now than the threat of a zombie invasion.

Regardless of the next leader in the horror sub genre war, I think I can safely say this: the sub genre that won’t be at the top is Mummies. No matter what Brendan Fraser does.

Brenda Kerber, as many of our listeners will know, owns the Travel Tickle Trunk, a sex-positive adult boutique on Whyte Avenue. She’s been a sponsor of the Unknown Studio since the beginning of the summer (and if you listen to our latest episode, you’ll hear Brenda giving out a very special and very exclusive offer to our listeners), and she gets what a strong community of forward-thinking people Edmonton has – particularly in terms of sexuality.

Some of the cool and sexy things happening in Edmonton, according to Brenda’s inaugural column, include:

• Several long-time swingers clubs
• BDSM get-togethers
• The Alberta Society for the Promotion of Sexual Health (ASPSH)
• Sex Positive Innovations (SPINN) [Facebook link]
• And cool and sexy readers like you

*In the spirit of all this sexiness, and thanks to the generosity of our friends at Vue Weekly (hey guys!), we’re giving away two pairs of tickets to Vue’s First Annual Blue Revue, which takes place on Wednesday, September 15th. What’s the Blue Revue? Well check it, friends:

Sound sexy, no? Here’s how you enter to win a pair of tickets from Vue Weekly and the Unknown Studio:

• Leave a comment on this here post with your best, original sexy movie title;
• Give us a bit of an explanation around how you came up with it (it’s ok to say “It was totally random – I have a glue-sniffing habit”);
• Make sure you add your real email address in the proper field in the comments so we can contact you if you win;
• Must be 18 years old or older;
• Prizes will be awarded Tuesday, September 14 at 8am;

Best of luck!

I didn’t know about the comic book series The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore until this summer, when Rachel bought me the first volume in the series of comics. I was immediately enamoured.

The series looks at what a post-apocalyptic Earth would look like, if the apocalypse had something to do with a virus (or something) that makes the dead rise again. It’s less focused on zombies, and more interested in examining what that new reality does to the living left to carve out a niche without having their faces eaten.

When I found out AMC was creating an original series based on The Walking Dead, I thought I was going to explode with zombie-joy.

The series premieres on Halloween night this year, with a 90-minute first episode. My plans for Halloween have therefore been solidified. Here, then, is the extra-long trailer recently released by AMC…

That’s right, we’re going back into outer space. But we’re not talking about cute and cuddly E.T.s and Stitches who just want to hug and be friends with us. Hell, we’re not even talking campy outer space denizens who come here with their “Yak-Yak” and their “Prepare to die, Earth-scum” and shoot us with laser guns.

No, today we’re talking about skin crawling, nightmare inducing wrongness.

We’re talking real aliens.

Real scary aliens.

Scott’s comments will be in Martian Invasion Red, Adam’s will be in Green Vulcan Blood.

Alien (1979)

Now, in my opinion, “Aliens” is the better movie. But there’s two major factors that make “Alien” a much better fit for this list than the sequel.

The first is that this is the first appearance of the Xenomorph in film, so naturally this movie is the go-to film. The second is actually a something of a genre shift. “Aliens” is a very different movie from “Alien,” in everything from the feel to the pace. Yes, they’re both science fiction horror movies – but “Aliens” is also an action movie.

“Alien” is not.

“Alien” is a creepy, atmospheric thriller. Once things start to go bad for the crew of the Nostromo, the tension begins to ramp up exponentially. Couple that with the giant, largely claustrophobic ship and the small crew. Then add in the fact that you never really get a clear look at the Xenomorph during the first film – terrifying.

I think it was best put in “Aliens”, during Ripley’s debrief at Weyland-Yutani headquarters: acid blood; plants a living seed in your chest, which then BURSTS out of you; proceeds to eat all you friends… There are few things more terrifying than that.

Oh, did I mention it has, like, five mouths? Because it does.

The Alien is so bad-ass, the creation of such a twisted mind (in surrealist HR Giger), and so thoroughly, mindlessly brutal, that after violating your fragile human body, it would probably take off with your girlfriend.

Fire in the Sky (1993)

Fire in the Sky was the stuff of nightmares. Literally. Except, presumably, these fiends ACTUALLY kidnap you and do all kinds of fucked up shit to you. And the very worst part of their terrifying violations? When you come back home after a night in space, no one believes you. They all think your nuts, as you try to explain that these are actually the early symptoms of alien gonorrhoea.

More than anything, what makes these fuckers so upsetting is that they’re so… nondescript. You come back from being anally examined by a species that doesn’t understand your anatomy, and when someone asks what you saw, all you can recall is a face that conveys… well, noselessness.

And that’s fucked up.

But thank the gods they can only bite you with one mouth. Not, like, five.

The aliens in “Fire in the Sky” are scary because, basically, they’re so similar to us. It’s that almost human aspect that, as far as I’m concerned, makes them so damned terrifying. It gives you an idea that you might know what they’re going to do next… then they do the opposite, like stick a freakin’ needle in your eye!

These are also supposed to basically be “The Grays”, the standard alien abduction creatures that have invaded the pop culture. I have a friend who would not be able to even watch this movie because of how utterly terrified she is of them. And rightly so.

If you see one of these guys on a dark street and your primitive mammal brain doesn’t scream “RUN”, you deserve to have your anus probed.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

This is a scary ass movie. Fundamentally, the theme here is about the terror of conformity, and I think there may have been some communist message, too. But the actual aliens? The pod people?

That’s the kind of thing that feeds paranoid delusions for the rest of your life.

“Invasion of the Body Snatchers” is actually a decently tense movie, which follows Donald Sutherland as he tries to save himself from the alien menace that is literally replacing humanity.

And really, what’s more horrifying? The terror of struggling against becoming what everyone else is? Or being the only one left who hasn’t changed?

From deep space, the seed is planted. Terror grows. And it screams like a banshee, too.

Now, it’s hard to really describe what’s scariest in this movie, since it stars long-established Hollywood creeps like Donald Sutherland, Leonard Nimoy, and Jeff Goldblum. But it would be pretty creepy when you realize that all the people you know and love have been copied and replaced — their bodies LITERALLY snatched away from them.

BUT SCARIEST OF ALL: Donald Sutherland’s unfortunate afro!

The Thing (1982)

The Thing — so horrifying, so grotesque… But did you know it’s also the primary tool of creationist dogma? “This!” they exclaim, “is what Charles Darwin was trying to foist upon humanity with his ‘theory.’” They go on to question whether or not this kind of thing is really what we should be teaching our children.

And the answer is yes. Yes we should.

The Thing is not only absolutely terrifying, it’s also fucking awesome to watch it slither and change and ooze its way through body after body. What makes the Thing so powerfully scary is that it’s… positively disgusting! Truly some of John Carpenter’s best work. And if the Thing doesn’t scare you, then Kurt Russell dressed as a flamethrower-wielding hippie surely will.

“The Thing” is a deeply disturbing movie based on the equally disturbing novella by John W. Campbell “Who Goes There?” or “The Thing from Another World”.

This is another alien who steals humans and imitates them. It’s a squishy extra-terrestrial shapeshifter that consumes everything in it’s path, turning it into a part of… well it.

Really, Adam sums it up well above, but if you want to totally blow your mind, I highly recommend reading this short story by Canadian science fiction author Peter Watts. It’s “The Thing”… told from a very different point of view.

Sleep tight.

The e-mail: Such Tweet Sorrow – a Shakespearean play performed over social media.

Over the next five weeks, six actors will be tweeting a modern adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, largely improvised from a structured plot.

Oh, and did I mention it’s being put on by the Royal Shakespeare Company? Yeah… that kind of makes it a big deal.

Like good artists, director Roxana Silbert and the RSC actors involved have decided to embrace a new medium to find a new way to create art. To witness it on the ground floor is… frankly, exciting.

Now only time will tell if this creative use of social media will be successful, and will pave the way for future performances, but I, for one, will definitely be following it, and will give my two-cents on the whole shebang when it wraps up.

You can watch the whole thing unfold by following @such_tweet on twitter.

But I applied to participate anyway. And it was worth way more than the money I paid to attend.

TED Talks aren’t just about information or sharing. They’re about exciting, world-changing ideas. And TEDx Edmonton was inspirational.

Since that weekend, I’ve become something of a TED whore, taking most every bit of my free time to watch lectures. If you’d asked me in my first year of university what I’d be spending my evenings doing, I’m not sure what I’d have said. However, I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t have said, “Watching presentations given by global thought-leaders… on the Internet.”

Below I’ve embedded a few TED Talks that I’ve really enjoyed. Unfortunately the ones from the Edmonton event aren’t available on video yet but I’m told they will be soon. (I’ve actually been able to find one, and it’s at the bottom of the list… it’s also my favourite talk from the Edmonton event.) Enjoy these videos in the meantime, which I deem to be awesome.

A Stroke of Insight

How I fell in love with a fish

Bobby McFerrin hacks your brain with music [link]

Ze Frank’s nerdcore comedy

Raising kids to be entrepreneurs

Eduard Khil is a Russian singer. He recorded a video for a song called “I Am Glad to Finally Be Home” in 1976. It’s a bizarre vocalization set to music. No lyrics. I’m not exactly certain why there aren’t lyrics, though I’ve heard tell it has something to do with the fact that the words were censored by the former Soviet government in the 70s. Here’s the video of the meme everyone’s talking about (popularized by Stephen Colbert and Christoph Waltz), often referred to simply as Trololo:

Memes are amazing. They’re these little nuggets of content that netizens become obsessed with. They’re viral, self-perpetuating and often silly (think All You Base Are Belong To Us, or the aforementioned Rick Roll). One of the things I find most remarkable about these memes is what other users wind up doing with them to make them their own. To wit, the “dumbed down” version of Trololo:

This meme is so popular, it’s spawned its own website with ringtones people can download. Needless to say, Trololo has been my ringtone for some weeks now. And now, people can fill out a petition for Eduard Khil to do a Trololo world tour.

Perhaps one of my favourite things about internet culture, though, is the concept of the mash-up. I’ll leave you with one. Trololo goes hip hop. This is the pinnacle of human existence. I’m not even kidding you:

In this latest installment of our ongoing Watch This feature — in which Adam and I give you a rundown on shows or movies you absolutely must see — we run-down the dial on the television and give you our picks for some of the greatest cartoons…

For grown-ups.

So put the kids to bed, pull up a bowl of popcorn, and lets take a look at what you won’t see on Treehouse.

Scott’s comments will be in Zoidberg Red, and Adam’s will be in Zorak Green.

Futurama (1999)

“Futurama” is, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest cartoons ever made.

Basically, it’s the story of Philip J. Fry, a pizza delivery boy from the year 1999 who is accidentally (or is he?) frozen, and awakens 1000 years in the future. He ends up becoming a delivery boy for “Planet Express”, a company operated by his great-great-great-great-grandnephew to fund his mad science, alongside an amoral robot and a cyclops.

Still with me?

The show is by “The Simpsons” creator Matt Groening, and I can honestly say it’s a vast improvement on it’s longer-lasting (too-long lasting) counterpart. Groening clearly took the lessons learned from “The Simpsons’” growing pains and applied them from the very inception of “Futurama”.

First lesson: stories surrounding the amazing cast of characters. The staff of Planet Express are all fully realized. From the core trio of Fry, Bender and Leela all the way to series darkhorse Dr. Zoidberg, everyone gets a chance to steal the spotlight from time to time.

Second lesson: The writing. “Futurama” is one of the few series I can think of that can make me laugh one instant, then get misty the next. Standout episodes such as Luck of the Fryrish, The Sting and Jurassic Bark are absolutely worth seeking out.

And lets not even get started on the hypnotoad! ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD!

The first time I watched Futurama, I was not onboard. It took me a good long while to appreciate what Matt Groening was trying to do: create a viable cartoon series that was completely separate from the mishigoss of the Simpsons (which I would argue is in many ways also an adult cartoon). The format — Pigs in Space on earth in a cartoon created by Matt Groening — allowed the characters to be more quirky in their quirkiness, more strange in their strangeness, and ultimately, in a really weird way, more believable in their unbelievableness.

I mean, who can’t relate to Fry — being frozen in some weird device only to wake up his own father (in at least one episode)?

This is an underrated show, and consequently, an often-cancelled one. It should be on your list of things to watch.

The Venture Bros. (2003)

Oh, Adult Swim… Is there anything you can’t do? I would suggest that the answer is no.

I was leery of this series when a colleague from work first suggested I spend some time with it, but the highly gay subtext of Hank and Dean, paired with the hyper-sexualized Brock Sampson makes this not only a must-see adult cartoon, but a must-laugh romp through the annals of late-70s, early-80s cartoon homages.

Easily my favourite character, Brock is by far the funniest, most over-the-top bit of cartoonery you’re likely to see this side of the Flintstones meet the Jetsons. Seriously, if you haven’t watched this show yet, go out and buy all available seasons and prepare to laugh your ass off…

I AM THE MONARCH.

A brilliant pastiche of the entire genre of serialized adventure. “Venture Bros.” draws much of it’s main inspiration from “Johnny Quest” but crams a ton of nostalgic pop-culture into each of it’s episodes.

Much like “Futurama” above, the primary selling point for “Venture Bros.” is less the plot (which is amazingly tight for a largely episodic series) and more the characters. The series is deceptively not about the titular Hank and Dean Venture, but about their father, Dr. Thaddeus “Rusty” Venture.

Dr. Venture is a former child adventurer, in the vein of “Johnny Quest” – but the trauma of those days of adventure have left him a cynical, bitter man, surrounded by failure. On a daily basis he has to deal with his two developmentally stunted boys, his father’s towering legacy, his necromancer tenant, and his butterfly themed arch-nemesis. Then throw in assassins, henchmen, walking eyes, super heroes, David Bowie and Brock fucking Samson. It’s a brilliant show, and it’s absolutely a must-see.

Standout episodes include Dia de Los Dangerous!, Twenty Years to Midnight and iViva Los Muertos!

Clone High (2002)

I was torn here between two great shows that aired at roughly the same time and only lasted a single season. One of them was “Undergrads”. The other was “Clone High”. I like both… but “Clone High” wins in a fight every time.

The theme song pretty adequately sums up the show’s premise. Way, way back in the 1980′s, secret government employees dug up famous guys and ladies and made amusing genetic copies. Now the clones are sexy teens, and they’re going to make it if they try.

It’s basically a bizarre parody of the high-school sitcom, with the addition of mad science. And the stars are Abe Lincoln, Gandhi, Cleopatra, JFK and Joan of Arc.

The madcap humour, the hilarious characters and the “B” plots starring Principal Skudworth made this show. And it’s a damn shame it’s not still on the air.

No. It’s a crime against mankind that this show is not still on the air.

If you only see three episodes of “Clone High” ever, I highly recommend Episode Two: Election Blue-Galoo, Makeover, Makeover, Makeover: The Makeover Episode and Snowflake Day: A Very Special Holiday Episode.

I’ve never been a huge fan of Clone High, having only watched a handful of episodes. I defer to Scott on this matter, but suggest that Harvey Birdman is sadly absent from this list.

Harvey Birdman didn’t end up on this list, Adam, because of our next entry.

Space Ghost Coast to Coast (1994)

Hey Scott! … Are you getting enough oxygen?

Space Ghost Coast to Coast is easily my favourite cartoon of all time. Oh sure, it’s hilarious if you’re one of those pot-smoking gadabouts, but it’s also a hilariously brilliant indictment of the talk-show format. So allow me to spend a bit of time expound on my boy TV’s Tad Ghostal for you.

Tad was a hero. And then he was a talkshow, and he became self-obsessed — like all talk-show hosts. Even ones of super-popular, Edmonton-related pocasts. Having ensnared his enemies Moltar and Zorak and forced them to work as his producer and his band leader respectively, his guests are typically subjected to a barrage of questions… about Space Ghost himself. Few f these questions actually make sense.

“Would you like some of my sex? With me?”

The result is a pattern of interviews where the guests are typically confused and the content is always funny. And the best part is that you don’t even have to be stoned to see the humour in it!

Adam insisted we include Space Ghost on this list. Insisted. And the truth is… it really deserves to be.

Besides being damned funny, “Space Ghost Coast to Coast” is also the precursor to virtually every other Adult Swim cartoon. If it isn’t a direct spin-off (like “Aqua Teen Hunger Force”, “The Brak Show” and the impossibly funny “Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law”), it’s at least inspired by the wacky, risqué humour that Space Ghost introduce back in 1994!

So thank you, Space Ghost, for ushering in a renaissance of cartoons specifically geared toward a more “grown-up” crowd.

As Adam mentioned above, this is the funniest, most nonsensical late night talk show you’ll ever watch. Episodes that make me laugh out loud to this very day include Piledriver, Batmantis and Snatch.

]]> http://theunknownstudio.ca/2010/03/watch-this-grown-up-cartoons/feed/ 2 http://theunknownstudio.ca/2010/03/afloat-on-a-sea-of-consumer-choices/ http://theunknownstudio.ca/2010/03/afloat-on-a-sea-of-consumer-choices/#comments Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:15:38 +0000 Adam Rozenhart http://theunknownstudio.ca/?p=1907 Sometimes it feels like no matter the choices we make — buying clothes, going out, mowing the lawn (or even having a lawn) — we’re doing something to harm the environment, indigenous group, or some animal species. It’s damn near impossible to make a purchase without discovering it’s had some negative impact on something or someone if you trace what you’ve bought back to its component parts.

However, as people become more aware of the impact of their purchasing choices, some have moved to make more prudent, low-impact buys, whether they need a new pair of shoes or want to buy a box of chocolates.

That’s where Ethical Ocean comes in. Spawned from a discussion during a road trip in 2007 and launched at the beginning of February, Ethical Ocean equips consumers with the tools they need to make ethical buying choices. Think of it as the eCommerce solution to the green, fair trade and organic movements.

The Unknown Studio had a chance to speak with Tony Hancock, one of the minds behind Ethical Ocean over email last week. Originally from Calgary, the 24-year-old mechanical engineer was sent to Malawi in 2007 to work with smallholder farmers for four months. It was there under the heat of the African sun that Tony made the connection between North American buying habits and its impact on people on the other side of the planet.

“So many products we enjoy on a daily basis come from all over the world… Where the things you buy come from, and how they were made really does matter, and really does affect many people in the chain.”
 

Like many startups, Ethical Ocean came from an idea that would help improve the lives of its founders. Faced with a dearth of smart choices for consumer products, the founding group got together and asked what kind of ethical products they’d like to have access to but couldn’t easily find online — they created a set if categories that their products might fit into: eco-friendly, fair trade, organic, people-friendly, animal-friendly, and social change. You can even shop by your desired category.

“Since then we have tried to broaden the spectrum of products we offer, and vendors are now approaching us themselves,” Tony explains. “We have adopted an ‘open source’ approach to the types of products and vendors allowed on the website. We filter the obvious, but ultimately leave it up to the buyer to vote and comment on the ethics of everything on the site. This is important in a field where ‘right’ is not always as written in black and white (or green for that matter).”

Discussion is key to the Ethical Ocean business model. The site invites vendors and consumers to share their thoughts on different products by way of site and product comments.

“A strong community surrounding discussion on ethics is essential for buyers and sellers alike. I can honestly say the things I’ve learned personally about certain subjects like ethically sourced coffee or T-shirts along the way have been eye opening and empowering,” Tony says. “We believe strongly in community moderated content, and our biggest influence on discussions will be to plant the seeds for a fair and equitable discussion space.”

With so much information out there to help consumers make smart and ethical choices, it’s easy to get down on yourself if not everything you buy is 100 per cent organic, animal-friendly or otherwise ethical. Tony believes that moving toward ethical buying is a process one continually works at, seeking out ever-changing information and making choices aimed at benefitting people and the planet.

And in spite of dire warnings of the impeding collapse of our ecosystem or of humankind, Tony takes a fighter’s attitude to the doomsaying.

“I really think it’s irrelevant whether we are ‘screwed’ or not, whether we are able to change our ways in time or not,” he says. “I’d rather ‘go down swinging’, so to speak. Do I think there will be serious consequences if we continue to live the way we are currently living? Absolutely. Do I think we can turn things around? Yes.

“We have our work cut out for us, but I continue to be an optimist.”

And if Ethical Ocean can help buoy other ethical purchasing websites or offline properties, Tony feels it’s been worth it.

Besides, ethical choices or not, he has big dreams. In 15 years, Tony sees himself “on a beach in the Polynesian islands (which have not been flooded by rising seas) sipping a mojito (made with fair trade sugar of course).”

• Become a fan of Ethical Ocean on Facebook
• Follow Ethical Ocean on Twitter
• Check out the Ethical Ocean on Flickr

I don’t know what the boardroom discussions were like when Pepsi decided to make the “Eh Oh Canada Go” chant the chant of a nation, but I know this: it was a misguided, misinformed attempt to take the attributes of successful viral campaigns, and transform them into a full-on marketing machine. Other companies attempting to do something similar — to co-opt a sort of popular culture icon as simple as a “Go Canada Go” or “Ca-Na-Da” chant — would do well to learn from Pepsi’s experience.

The anti-buzz

“I became a [Facebook] fan of this just to say how stupid it is. No company is going to tell me how to cheer. I don’t need a sports cheer marketed,” wrote Facebook member Jeff. (From the Vancouver Sun article “‘Eh Oh Canada Go’ junior hockey chant falls flat”.)

Facebook member Jeff’s reaction wasn’t unique. Jeff felt, as many did, that Pepsi’s national chant campaign was a hostile take-over of something that has no business being associated with any company or brand (other than Canada, if you’re cynical enough to view a country as a brand).

Spontaneous chants at sporting events cannot be dictated to people. They’re random, spur of the moment pieces of junk poetry — catchy enough to be repeated over and over to spirit a team to victory, and obnoxious enough to not be uttered outside the walls of a stadium or arena.

In short, they’re tricky, and they can’t be engineered by sheer will unless the sentiment around them is 100 per cent honest and sincere. Which isn’t to say that Pepsi was being devious in its attempts to get the entire nation behind a new cheer. I believe Pepsi sincerely believed this would be an awesome marketing campaign… but they must have realized the collateral damage from a campaign failure — the eye-rolling, the barroom discussions on the topic invoking the word “lame,” and the reactions of people like Jeff, quoted above in the Vancouver Sun article — could be large if not larger were the campaign not successful.

Viral successes

Few people from my generation could forget Joe, that quintessential non-threatening Canadian lad who, on behalf of the Molson company, set the record straight on Canada and Canadians. In my mind, this was a wildly successful viral campaign, culminating in a refreshed national identity (at least among beer-drinkers) and a rash of tattoo appointments to have the statement “I am Canadian” permanently etched onto the bodies of thousands of patriots.

So what sets Molson’s campaign success apart from Pepsi’s campaign failures?

Twitter pal Buck75 stated it pretty well when I put the question out there: “I knew that one would fail. Why reinvent the wheel? #gocanadago”.

Maybe it’s that simple. Sure “Go Canada Go” isn’t terribly clever. But it works: it’s effective, recognizable, and you can repeat it over and over again.

Without over analyzing what Pepsi tried to do, I think there’s an element in their chant (aside from being nearly unchantable) that teed them up for failure, and examining it in hindsight now makes it standout significantly. It’s a simple little phoneme that wouldn’t otherwise give me pause, but I see it now: the word “eh.”

On aboots, ehs and zeds

Pepsi is, for all intents and purposes, an American company. Good on them for entering, conquering and besting global markets. They’re a company out to make profit, and I can’t fault them for plying their products anywhere they can.

But whether this campaign was developed by their Canadian contingent of corporate communications staff or not, it comes across as distinctly naive, completely unaware of its own lack of depth, and consequently totally insincere. Simply put, the chant itself sounds like it was created by a bunch of Americans fixated on Canadian accents.

And one of the reasons it comes across that way is because of the inclusion of the word “Eh” in it.

Fewer things drive me nuts as a Canadian than slack-jawed mouth-breathers commenting on how I “talk funny.” No shit. I come from a different part of the world, with different traditions, different modes of speech, different tonalities of language. So do the English. So do Eastern Canadians. So do English-speaking South Africans. So do Eastern Seaboard Americans. So do… you get my drift.

We compare meaningless differences between Canadian and American culture all the time, and most Americans and Canadians get this. But to still be on about the fact that some people — forget some Canadians, but some PEOPLE — say “eh” sometimes is positively obnoxious, and it cheapens the celebration of the TRUE differences between Canadians and Americans, or Canadians and the British, or Canadians and some Congolese tribe I’ve never heard of.

“Eh” is the cheap-laughs, lowest common denominator difference between Canada and the world. And it’s not even relevant. Or true. Unless you’re from Newfoundland (I kid, I kid).

And Pepsi had the gall or lack of foresight to include it as part of their non-catchy chant.

Molson Canadian did it properly with their I Am Canadian “Joe” ad: they didn’t bother to mention “Eh.” Because it isn’t even worth mentioning.

But wait, there’s more!

The Pepsi Chant Viral Campaign also suffers from an exceedingly complex concept. They wanted to get a million people to sign up for “Cheer Nation”; they got just shy of 94,000. Pepsi’s Facebook page benefitted from a glut of new fans many of whom criticized the campaign.

And the nail in the coffin, as far as the general concept: it was an overly complicated contest involving submissions, revisions and votes.

Viral’s tricky. Each campaign is like a new experiment, and the key to it is to understanding the thoughts and feelings of the people whose attention you hope to get. It’s about hearts and minds, if I can invoke such a cliche. Above all, it should be simple, like the Joe Canadian ad.

The Joe Canadian ad for me is the benchmark of a successful nationalistic viral campaign, and there’s another key feature that made it successful: it wasn’t designed directly to sell beer. Sure, it was commissioned by Molson, but the ad didn’t end with, “And oh yeah, drink our beer.”

To be fair, neither did the Pepsi campaign. But it wasn’t sufficiently disassociated from Pepsi — it didn’t feel like it could stand on its own — and so it was ultimately a flop.

But wait, there’s less!

I don’t want to cause anyone to think I know how to design a successful viral campaign. I don’t. But there are a few takeaways here that I think are pretty self-evident.

No matter what brand is conducting the campaign, they can’t be seen as conducting it to promote their brand. In other words, it has to be genuine. This is tricky, because even the best intentions can lead to failure, and more often than not, communicators think of marketing campaigns as direct — they should sell the product/brand.

A successful viral campaign has to be compelling, funny and clever. It has to be something — an image, a phrase, a concept — that will win hearts and minds. It has to be something, as above, that resonates with people and leverages the power of your brand, but it can’t just be about selling soft drinks or beer or a credit card. It’s about making an impact on popular culture.

It’s about being selfless. And good intentions or not, Pepsi failed to come across that way. Go Canada Go!

It’s that time of year again when nominees are set on edge, performers begin prepping the musical numbers, and the band gets ready to play you off at the thirty-second mark. Yes, friends, it’s Oscar season!

And that means it’s time for me to keep with tradition and and give my picks for the awards – which have historically proven to be totally accurate*.

First off, you should be reminded that the Academy changed up the format a bit this year, nominating ten movies for the Best Picture category – up from the more traditional five. They claimed this was so they could give movies that don’t traditionally make it into the category a fair shake – movies like “The Dark Knight” who were arguably snubbed in previous years because they weren’t dramas, which tend to dominate the category.

They won’t win, mind you, but they can get nominated.

Lets take a look at the nominee list. It’s a pretty impressive bunch this year, with a number of surprising movies getting nods in a number of categories. “Avatar” and “The Hurt Locker” both tied for most nominations – which should come as no surprise – with a total of 9 in a variety of categories. Nipping at their heels is overrated revenge fantasy “Inglorious Basterds” which everyone seems to like except me. “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” and “Up in the Air” both got 6 nods, which is also no big surprise as both had a lot of Oscar buzz when they came out.

That’s the top five in terms of sheer numbers, but I’m going to go one further due to surprise – Disney-Pixar’s “Up” got 5 nominations. And one of them is for Best freakin’ Picture. I half expected it, but seeing it happen is still a pleasant surprise.

We’ll start with the crappy awards, and work our way up to the statues that actually matter. Or you can skip to the end to see a handy list of all the nominees along with my picks depicted in glorious Red Carpet Red.

Starting things off at the bottom, achievement in art direction, achievement in cinematography and achievement in visual effects will all get snapped up by “Avatar” without much question. “King of the World” James Cameron had better hold those statues tight, though… it’s going to be a long night of disappointment for him.

“Inglorious Basterds” will get a bone thrown their way in the technical mix as well, for achievement in film editing.

Achievement in sound editing and achievement in sound mixing will both go to “Star Trek“. Yes, I just wrote that. “Star Trek” will win a pair of Oscars – just one less than I predict “Avatar” will.

Achievement in makeup goes to “The Young Victoria” because the Academy loves period pieces, which is why it’ll be unusual to see it get beaten to the podium by “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” for achievement in costume design.

“Food, Inc.” will take best documentary feature, while “China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province” takes best documentary short subject. While we’re on the topic of movies no-one will ever see, best foreign language film of the year will go to French film “Un Prophete”.

In the short film categories, best live action short film will be given to “The Door” and best animated short film goes to “Logorama”.

Moving on to the more melodious categories, we see Disney all over the freakin’ place – as they always are. That said, Hans Zimmer will get the award for best original score with “Sherlock Holmes”. Disney needn’t worry, though, as Randy Newman will pick up the best original song award for “Down in New Orleans”, one of the two songs he was nominated for from “The Princess and the Frog”.

In the writing mix, adapted screenplay will go to “Up in the Air”, while original screenplay will end up in the hands “The Hurt Locker”.

Alright, we’ve gone through to the stuff people really care about. First of all, it’s the only nominee who’s also up for a best picture award, so is there really any doubt “Up” will take best animated feature film of the year?

Going through the acting awards we’ll see Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock repeat their Golden Globes victories as best performance by an actor in a leading role and best performance by an actress in a leading role respectively. For those keeping track, that’s for “Crazy Heart” and “The Blind Side”. Best performance by an actor in a supporting role will go to Woody Harrelson for “The Messenger”. Best performance by an actress in a supporting role will end up in the hands of Maggie Gyllenhaal for “Crazy Heart”.

Final two. Still with me? Hold onto your hat, James Cameron because achievement in directing will go to Kathryn Bigelow for “The Hurt Locker”, and where directing goes, so too does best motion picture of the year. Why? Because ultimately, “Avatar” is a science fiction movie.

It never really stood a chance, now did it?

Thanks for coming out, everyone, enjoy your statues and your after parties, and get back to making movies we love to watch.

The 82nd Academy Awards

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Jeff Bridges (“Crazy Heart”), George Clooney (“Up in the Air”), Colin Firth (“A Single Man”), Morgan Freeman (“Invictus”), Jeremy Renner (“The Hurt Locker”)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Matt Damon (“Invictus”), Woody Harrelson (“The Messenger”), Christopher Plummer (“The Last Station”), Stanley Tucci (“The Lovely Bones”), Christoph Waltz (“Inglorious Basterds”)

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Sandra Bullock (“The Blind Side”), Helen Mirren (“The Last Station”), Carey Mulligan (“An Education”), Gabourey Sidibe (“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”), Meryl Streep (“Julie & Julia”)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Penelope Cruz (“Nine”), Vera Farmiga (“Up in the Air”), Maggie Gyllenhaal (“Crazy Heart”), Anna Kendrick (“Up in the Air”), Mo’Nique (“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”)

Best animated feature film of the year
“Coraline” (Henry Selick), “Fantastic Mr. Fox” (Wes Anderson), “Princess and the Frog” (John Musker and Ron Clements), “The Secret of Kells” (Tomm Moore), “Up” (Pete Docter)

Achievement in art direction
“Avatar” (Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg and Kim Sinclair), “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” (Dave Warren, Anastasia Masaro and Caroline Smith), “Nine” (John Myhre and Gordon Sim), “Sherlock Holmes” (Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer), “The Young Victoria” (Patrice Vermette and Maggie Gray)

Achievement in cinematography
“Avatar” (Mauro Fiore), “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” (Bruno Delbonnel), “The Hurt Locker” (Barry Ackroyd), “Inglorious Basterds” (Robert Richardson), “The White Ribbon” (Christian Berger)

Achievement in costume design
“Bright Star” (Janet Patterson), “Coco before Chanel” (Catherine Leterrier), “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” (Monique Prudhomme), “Nine” (Colleen Atwood), “The Young Victoria” (Sandy Powell)

Achievement in directing
“Avatar” (James Cameron), “The Hurt Locker” (Kathryn Bigelow), “Inglorious Basterds” (Quentin Tarantino), “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lee Daniels), “Up in the Air” (Jason Reitman)

Best documentary feature
“Burma VJ” (Anders Ostergaard and Lise Lense-Moller), “The Cove” (tba), “Food, Inc.” (Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein), “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” (Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith), “Which Way Home” (Rebecca Cammisa)

Best documentary short subject
“China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province” (Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill), “The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner” (Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher), “The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant” (Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert), “Music by Prudence” (Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett), “Rabbit a la Berlin” (Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra)

Achievement in film editing
“Avatar” (Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron), “District 9″ (Julian Clarke), “The Hurt Locker” (Bob Murawski and Chris Innis), “Inglorious Basterds” (Sally Menke), “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Joe Klotz)

Best foreign language film of the year
“Ajami” (Israel), “El Secreto de Sus Ojos” (Argentina), “The Milk of Sorrow” (Peru), “Un Prophete” (France), “The White Ribbon” (Germany)

Achievement in makeup
“Il Divo” (Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano), “Star Trek” (Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow), “The Young Victoria” (John Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore)

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original Score)
“Avatar” (James Horner), “Fantastic Mr. Fox” (Alexandre Desplat), “The Hurt Locker” (Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders), “Sherlock Holmes” (Hans Zimmer), “Up” (Michael Giacchino)

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original Song)
“Almost There” (“The Princess and the Frog”, music and lyrics Randy Newman), “Down in New Orleans” (“The Princess and the Frog”, music and lyrics Randy Newman), “Loin de Paname” (“Paris 36″, music Reinhardt Wagner, lyrics Frank Thomas), “Take It All” (“Nine”, music and lyrics Maury Yeston), “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” (“Crazy Heart”, music and lyrics Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett)

Best motion picture of the year
“Avatar” (James Cameron and Jon Landau), “The Blind Side” (tba), “District 9″ (Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham), “An Education” (Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey), “The Hurt Locker” (tba), “Inglorious Basterds” (Lawrence Bender), “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness), “A Serious Man” (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen), “Up” (Jonas Rivera), “Up in the Air” (Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman)

Best animated short film
“French Roast” (Fabrice I. Joubert), “Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty” (Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell), “The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)” (Javier Recio Gracia), “Logorama” (Nicolas Schmerkin), “A Matter of Loaf and Death” (Nick Park)

Best live action short film
“The Door” (Juanita Wilson and James Flynn), “Instead of Abracadabra” (Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellstrom), “Kavi” (Gregg Helvey), “Miracle Fish” (Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey), “The New Tenants” (Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson)

Achievement in sound editing
“Avatar” (Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle), “The Hurt Locker” (Paul N.J. Ottosson), “Inglorious Basterds” (Wylie Stateman), “Star Trek” (Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin), “Up” (Michael Silvers and Tom Myers)

Achievement in sound mixing
“Avatar” (Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson), “The Hurt Locker” (Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett), “Inglorious Basterds” (Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano), “Star Trek” (Anna Behlmer, Any Nelson and Peter J. Devlin), “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” (Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson)

Achievement in visual effects
“Avatar” (Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones), “District 9″ (Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken), “Star Trek” (Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton)

Adapted screenplay
“District 9″ (Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell), “An Education” (Nick Hornby), “In the Loop” (Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche), “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Geoffrey Fletcher), “Up in the Air” (Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner)

Original screenplay
“The Hurt Locker” (Mark Boal), “Inglorious Basterds” (Quentin Tarantino), “The Messenger” (Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman), “A Serious Man” (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen), “Up” (Screenplay Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, story Pete Docter, Bob Peterson and Tom McCarthy)

* Accuracy not guaranteed.

Whatever you think of the Games — and I personally have a love/hate relationship with them ever since I was cut from the Canadian jet-luge team (no longer an Olympic sport) in the mid-90s — this definitely marks an historic moment in Canadian history, only the third time the games have taken place in our country. The last time was in 1988 in Calgary, when mascots Heidi and Howdy graced every toque, coffee mug and mitten in existence in this country. Before that, Montreal hosted the summer Olympics in 1976, which allowed them to score a now-dilapidated stadium as a permanent fixture on their landscape.

And while boondoggles and over-priced construction projects are a fact of life when hosting the games, I can’t help but feel really excited about the Vancouver Olympics, even though I’ll be nowhere near them when they’re taking place, unless you consider Edmonton to be nearby Vancouver, which I suppose it is when compared to someplace like, say Marrakesh. I’m excited for all my pals in VanCity who’ve decided to stick it out and check out the action of the games in their home town. I’m excited for the people of Vancouver to see what awesome things they’re going to do with the games. I’m excited for a few of the events, except most of the judged ones, which I also judge though in an entirely different way. Mostly, I’m excited for Canada — proud to have this international event, despite its controversies, in our country.

The real question, though, is whether or not the rest of the world actually gives a shit. Have the Olympics been properly promoted and publicized to the rest of the planet, or will this wind up being the Olympic Games where every single spectator is a Canadian, or US border-state resident? I’m certain every single federal MP will be in attendance, thanks to Prime Minister Harper’s proroguing of Parliament, but aside from a bunch of stuck-up government types, are the games even accessible to the average citizen?

I know I certainly couldn’t afford to go, not even if I crashed on the floors of some of the excellent people I know living on the west coast. So I have to settle for Edmonton’s torch relay and day-time broadcasts of Olympic events in February, when the games finally arrive. And while the rest of Canada rides the coattails of Vancouverites fortunate and crazy enough to be staying on the Lower Mainland, I’ll be keeping my eye on Canada’s medal count, while at the same time trying not to become too invested for fear the Canada Men’s Olympic Hockey team doesn’t win the gold medal.

If you have some time tomorrow afternoon, be sure and check out the torch relay events taking place here in Champion City. Click here for details!

The main reason? We spend way, way too much time talking amongst ourselves about the various pros and cons of the shows we like to watch. The other reason? We can.

Scott’s comments will be in Blue Sun blue, and Adam’s will be in Red Alert red.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)

Starring: Avery Brooks, Nana Visitor, Rene Auberjonois, Armin Shimerman, Terry Farrell, Alexander Siddig, Colm Meany, Michael Dorn, Cirroc Lofton, Nicole De Boer

In my opinion (thus, the only one that truly matters), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is the single best Star Trek series. A wonderful sweeping plot, fantastic characters and a gritty “borderland” setting where the Federation has only tenuous control.

Granted, the first season is a little dry. But I promise you that it picks up, sinks its hooks into you, and drags you into a Dominion War you’ll be sticking around to watch. DS9 loses the “episodic” nature of its predecessor (The Next Generation) by the second season, and really starts working toward a proper narrative, with a meta-plot that is actually quite riveting.

One of the things that also really sets DS9 apart from its predecessors is with the fantastic character arcs. You really get to see the crew of the station grow over the course of the 7 season run — with a surprising amount of development also given to a number of secondary characters. Gul Dukat, Kai Winn, General Martok, Garak, Damar, Rom and Weyoun in particular get a great deal of screen time and become full characters in their own rights and integral to the plot.

Frankly… I just can’t recommend DS9 enough to science fiction fans – even if they tend to steer clear of the Star Trek franchise.

About six months ago, I’d have heartily disagreed with Scott about which of the Star Trek series was the tops. However, after giving it the old Star Fleet Academy try, as they say in the 24th century, I think I’m starting to come around. Like any good Star Trek series, DS9 takes a good two seasons to really find its feet (in spite of what Scott might say above — most long-running series worth their salt need some time to not suck). But once it does, oh man: you can enjoy the depth of characters, story arcs, and the opportunities to make all manner of “wormhole” jokes you could imagine.

One of the chief criticisms from naysayers at the outset of the series was concern over whether or not a space station would be an engaging enough locale from which to stage a series. Hence the wormhole. Also, the USS Defiant. Also two run-abouts, which I think is British for “shuttlecraft”. What was a concern for fans, quickly turned into one of the series greatest and most interesting keystones.

DS9 was the forerunner of science fiction blended with polytheism, and though I don’t know it for certain, I would imagine DS9′s religious and war aspects went some way to inspire Ronald D. Moore, the chief architect of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series to explore polytheism in depth.

Firefly (2002)

Starring: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin, Jewel Staite, Sean Maher, Summer Glau, Ron Glass

After the destruction of Earth-that-was, the remains of Sino-American influenced humankind set out to colonize planets and eke out a living in a galactic Alliance. Some humans — the independents — wanted no part of this imposed Alliance. So they fought against it, and lost.

Enter the rag tag crew of the Firefly-class starship Serenity, which includes a priest, doctor on the lam (and his lobotomized sister), a homicidal moron, and a classy prostitute. Also, a pilot, some soldiers, and a cute engineer named Kaylee. These group of miscreants make their way across the galaxy, guns blazing, looking for their next job, their next meal, and their next adventure. Throw in some Chinese expletives, western-style speech, and outstanding comedic timing as well as deep, riveting plot points, and you’ve got Joss Whedon’s Firefly.

The series is truly unique in the realm of science fiction, blending the genre with very strong Western overtones. The result is a series only 14 episodes deep that was cut short way too soon. Firefly is one of my favourite television shows. Period. You should watch this… and then watch the follow-up film Serenity.

The best science fiction series to last only 14 episodes, thanks to Fox.

Firefly was — basically — cowboys in space.  It had a wonderful “space western” feel to it, from the visuals to the broader themes. This was a future that wasn’t shiny and polished. No sir; it was dirty, dusty and grimy. It had colonists in a lawless frontier who were more than willing to shoot first and ask questions later. It had archaic starships that were barely holding together. And it had space savages ready to skin you and wear your hide.

Basically, it was awesome.

And it starred Edmonton’s own Nathan Fillion! Always a plus to have some local content.

If you haven’t seen Firefly, you should. If you can find it on DVD (not hard), I highly recommend you pick it up. The only disappointment is that there isn’t more of it.

Battlestar Galactica (2004)

Starring: Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sakhoff, Kamie Bamber, James Callis, Tricia Helfer, Grace Park, Michael Hogan, Tahmoh Penikett, Aaron Douglas

I was turned on to the BSG series by my friend George. I was house-sitting one summer and he gave me the entire first season on disc. That was the day… my life changed.

Like the West Wing in space, BSG tackles some of the biggest issues society is dealing with, and they do it all while trying to avoid being completely genocided out of existence by the hell-bent Cylons. This series represents the power of pairing outstanding and unexpected plot devices with an outstanding ensemble cast. Not only that, but the writers and actors take huge risks — if you haven’t seen the series at all, I’ll say only this: BSG isn’t afraid to kill off critical characters to advance the main story arc.

Bonus for this show: it was filmed in Vancouver, and shots of the Caprica city square are, in fact, the quad of Simon Fraser University. In fact, in one shot of Cylon-occupied Caprica, you can see one of downtown Vancouver’s building, obviously marked with a giant Scotiabank logo.

Critically acclaimed, award-winning drama. Indeed, I would argue that the Battlestar Galactica reboot of 2004 took a niche of television that was largely considered “for nerds” and brought it to the mainstream.

A gritty military drama set in space, BSG follows the survivors of the Twelve Colonies as they flee from invading Cylon forces. And holy frak was it good. Great characters and some truly thrilling twists and turns make for 4 excellent seasons of television — and various spin-offs.

On an interesting side note, Battlestar is a rare television gem that purposefully went out strong, despite having been capable of perpetuating. The producers basically said, no, the story is coming to a close, and we don’t want to drag it on pointlessly. That, my friends, is integrity. Something many other shows sacrifice to keep on going long after they should be done.

Doctor Who (2005)

Starring: Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Matt Smith, Billie Piper, John Barrowman, Elisabeth Sladen, Freema Agyeman, many, many others.

Okay. Yes. I just got finished talking about how I respect Battlestar Galactica for finishing strong, rather than perpetuating needlessly. Meanwhile Doctor Who is the longest running science fiction television series ever.

The difference is that while Battlestar Galactica had a plot that it was flowing from episode to episode like the chapters in a novel, Doctor Who remains largely episodic. Sure there are little meta-plots that run through it, or a few mutli-part episodes here and there — but overall it’s totally self contained.

Oh yeah, and the quality is fantastic.

Basically, Doctor Who is the story of a time-travelling alien and his human hitchhikers, as they roam time and space looking for adventure. Pretty simple premise with plenty of possibilities.

Now, I’m familiar with the earlier Doctor Who series from the 1960s onwards, but I’ve recently discovered the 2005 reboot and it’s really, really good. Even if you’re not often a fan of British TV, I highly recommend giving Doctor Who a chance.

Witty, well-written dialogue, excellent special effects, and great plots combine to make Doctor Who worth checking out.

I have not yet watched Doctor Who, because Scott still hasn’t lent me the First Series. In his defence, I don’t know if he’s finished watching it.

I am. And I’ll be lending it to you soon. You’ll thank me.

The beginning of this decade for me marked a significant time in my life, where I felt as though I finally had direction for what I wanted to do. And it all started at the Gateway, the U of A’s student newspaper. I was fortunate to meet so many cool people there who exposed me to an incredible diversity of music and popular culture. To my friends from those times (and beyond), thank you for always sharing your delicious tastes with me.

A Dandy beginning

The year 2000 was the biggest let-down in the history of humanity… at least the very beginning of it. Having been warned of impending apocalypse due to the fact that computers are way dumber than originally thought, billions of dollars were spent fixing a non-problem. When the clocks struck 12:00am on January 1, 2000 nothing could be seen or heard other than the sounds of typical New Year’s mayhem.

Not until the release of the Dandy Warhols‘ album Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia did anyone even notice that anything had changed. In fact, it took me five more years to really notice this album. But when I gave it a listen, I was hooked instantly. The Dandies know how to make rock n’ roll fun, edgy, and interesting. Far from make every sound the same, this album combines some haunting guitar licks with ballads, bluegrass-influenced head-bobbers, and music you can listen and dance to over and over without it ever getting old.

Jacket. Jacket HARD

Back in high school (and still to this day) I was friends with people who had great taste in music. High school began my exposure to skate punk and ska. When I arrived at university, I met lots of people with much more eclectic tastes than my own. Consequently, I was listening to a lot of different stuff.

Some of that different included a once little-known group called Blink-182 — a trio of hilarious punk dorks whose antics were at least amusing, even if you hated them. Aught One marked the release of the follow-up album to their wildly popular Enema of the State, a little album called Take Off Your Pants And Jacket. History remembers the album as more of the same, not a particularly strong release, but certainly not a weak one. For me, TOYPAJ represents a summer of awesome concerts, and anthems from a punk band that had graduated high school and moved onto bigger things.

TOYPAJ is a rock-solid album, by punk standards. Lyrically, it demonstrates a move to more mature songwriting for the group. I recently revived this album on a roadtrip, and it brought back a flood of good memories. TOYPAJ will always be among my Blink-182 favourites.

Of Robots and Concept Albums

The 60s had Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles. The 1970s had Ziggy Stardust and the Darkside of the Moon. The Aughts will always have Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots by The Flaming Lips.

Some people would argue that Yoshimi isn’t a true concept album, since only the first four tracks apparently deal with Yoshimi’s battle directly. I suggest you pop on some high-quality headphones, select track one from this album, and listen to the whole thing through. If you don’t think it’s a concept album, we can’t be friends.

Regardless of its cohesion on an album level, Yoshimi’s individual tracks stand up on their own. Musically, they’re beyond interesting; lyrically they evoke powerful, strange and psychedelic imagery. If concept albums interest you, you should at least give Yoshimi a chance.

Of Hip Hop and Concept Albums

I didn’t really get into Outkast until they released The Love Below & Speakerboxx in 2003. By then, of course, everyone had heard Bombs Over Baghdad, Elevators and other Outkast hits. But this double-disc “album” — which I guess was technically two albums — really demonstrated the vision, talent and innovation that Big Boi and Andre 3000 were capable of.

On Speakerboxx, you’re treated to the hip hop stylings of Big Boi, a “normal” album in the traditional sense of the word. Though I think this album suffers from an over-saturation of skits (something endemic to a lot of hip hop albums, which is often a huge turn off for me… Just get to the tunes, says I), its strongest tracks more than make up for this deficiency.

But the true gem of this two-disc set is Andre 3000′s concept album The Love Below. More a concept album than, say, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, The Love Below takes listeners on a journey through a young man’s quest for love. In this case, the skits serve to support the album’s narrative and only seem out of place during one-off listens. The Love Below is easily one of my favourite albums of all time.

Oh my god, he’s gorgeous!

For me, the name Dan the Automator will always mean outstanding music. So when a friend told me I had to check out the Handsome Boy Modeling School’s So How’s Your Girl album, I fell in love instantly. But it definitely wasn’t my favourite, in spite of being a Dan the Automator fanboy.

Then, in 2004, Dan the Automator teamed up again with Prince Paul from De La Soul for a second Handsome Boy album: White People. I bought this album without having heard anything about it, operating on the assumption that it would be awesome. And I was hooked from the first track.

The Handsome Boys are masters of collaboration, inviting outstanding guest artists to work on individual tracks and putting them all together with something only slightly geared toward the concept album. From remixes to original jams, White People introduces mainstream and unusual style to a saturated genre.

Spaceghost: ‘You had a tag…’

I never got into Beck. I actually still wouldn’t consider myself to be into Beck. Guero is the only one of his albums that I actually like. Enough to make it one of the tops for 2005. The reason’s pretty simple: it was part of the soundtrack for my summer of 2005. So some of my love of this album is from the nostalgia of that excellent time in my life (and despite the fact I was working a job I hated that summer, it was still tremendous), and some of it stems from the fact that, at least on Guero, Beck is awesome.

‘Who you callin’ a chump, chimp?’

My foray into electronic music really began in this decade. First, introduced to the extremely bizarre, ambient-yet-musical sounds of Amon Tobin first. This was kind of a huge leap for me. I continued the adventure with The Herbalizer, Thievery Corporation, DJ Shadow, Kid Koala… The list goes on.

And then, there was Bonobo. An unassuming, gentler-sounding DJ, but no less brilliant than the visionaries listed above. I got into Bonobo because of the song “Flutter.” In his latest album, Days to Come, Bonobo goes a more traditional route, mixing his unique brand of chill-out music with a singer: Bajka. A more mature Bonobo, but still with a flair for mixing and spinning.

Float on

Modest Mouse‘s 2007 album They Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank took awhile to sink in, mostly because the first single “Dashboard” was waaaaay over played on local radio.I got this album from my french cousin who’d recently moved to the west coast. I’d listened to some Modest Mouse before, thanks in part to an ex-girlfriend and a former photo editor from my student journalism days.

At times, you’re treated to he nervous, frantic, Bobcat Goltdhwait-esque deliver of Isaac Brock, and then in breaks into lovely ballads always with thoughtful, descriptive lyrics. Whatever you think of Modest Mouse’s musical style, I think you have to acquiesce to the fact that Isaac Brock is a true poet.

Beater and the Kings

I didn’t know much about the Kings of Leon before last year, when I made friends with a lovely young lady would was part of the staff that looks after my cat. Beater has one of the most eclectic music tastes ever, and I think she afforded me the same status as her: knowledgeable. But when she found out I’d never heard of Kings of Leon, I thought she was going to kill me.

And then, as though to demonstrate to me what I was missing out out, Only By The Night came out. And then I had to go back and listen to all their other albums. If the Kings ruled over all rock ‘n roll, I think I’d be OK with that. Lyrically, they’re incredible, and sonically, they’re unusual enough to be interesting, and rock ‘n roll enough to be… rock ‘n roll!

This is one of those albums that, for me, came out of nowhere.

Resistance is Futile

Muse was only recently brought to my attention. Like, a week ago. I’d heard a lot of people talking about them, including the boys and girls who man the SONiC 102.9 Twitter account, and SONiC DJ Liann Cameron. I’m always weary when mainstream radio stations bust out the kind of praise typically reserved for more-of-the-same pop pulp music. But this time they, and everyone else whose said as much, is absolutely bang-on. The Resistance is awesome.

It’s hard to describe their sound, but they simultaneous evoke sounds of Interpol and Radiohead and Queen and… well, it’s tough to put my finger on it. But, as I said on Twitter, I haven’t immediately fallen in love with a band like this in a LONG time.

How I came to this realization is as important as the realization itself, since I was once firmly within the camp of people who thought Arnie was just some random action hero, who was OK, but not really that impressive. However, over the last little while it’s become increasingly apparent that I’m way more into Arnold Schwarzenegger than I would have previously admitted to. The reasons are varied, of course, since in spite of what a lot of people might think, Arnold is actually a fairly nuanced actor when it comes to the action genre.

The reasons – see you at the party, Richter

1. In terms of physique, Arnold is the ideal action star. All muscle and braun. He’s a tough guy, and I’d say that’s exactly what you want your action movie star to be.
2. Having said that, Arnold’s also not some airheaded moron. The characters he plays are general pretty sharp. Whether he’s a soldier, a cop, or a cybernetic organism with the ability to learn, Arnold plays smart characters — but not so over-the-top as to be completely unbelievable.
3. He seems to approach character development with at least some consideration — which is more than can be said for a lot of action stars. Consider the Terminator he played in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Sure, he was an emotionless drone and I’ll accept that many of his lines were silly one-liners, but he definitely brought dimension to a literally robotic character.

Like so many people of my generation, my first exposure to Arnold was well past his role as Conan the Barbarian. I was born at the very beginning of the ’80s, so naturally my introduction to Arnold (and other awesome action film stars) started with The Terminator. I was pretty young when I first saw it, and found it to be a rally scary movie. And I’ll say this: there wasn’t a lot for Arnold to do in this film except act like a machine — which he did well.

Arnold sits in a mind-erasing chair in Total Recall

The Terminator didn’t really drive the point home for me when it came to Arnold’s acting prowess. And in subsequent roles when Arnold played all-American GI-type characters, he seemed mostly disingenuous — I mean honestly, what does this massive Austrian body builder have to do with American patriotism (don’t worry, the irony of saying that isn’t lost of me given Arnold’s current role)?

In fact, to examine any one role exclusively as evidence of Arnold’s skill as an action star is an exercise in futility. You have to take the entire Schwarznegger cannon to really get it. Having said that, however, there is one role Arnold took on that to me proved he knows exactly what he’s doing in action movies, he knows exactly the kind of actor he is and the limits to his skill (ie, you wouldn’t expect the man to take on a role like Jack from Brokeback Mountain, nor would you see any self-respecting director making him that offer), and he’s good. A solid action star.

That movie is True Lies.

Even with Tom Arnold, a good movie

True Lies is a film about an American spy, played by Arnold, who’s been deceiving his bored housewife for years about the true nature of his work. When she gets mixed up in all of his crazy business and discovers the truth, their relationship is changed forever — and that’s just the Reader’s Digest condensed version of the synopsis. What winds of happening is we’re presented with a nuanced, comedic role played masterfully by Arnold. He’s not trying to convey anything terribly complex, and certainly the movie is very over the top, but it’s so well done, so convincing and so exciting — as far as action movies go — that I think it’s a clear demonstration of Arnold’s abilities as an actor; not an amazing actor, mind you, but a competent one whose domination of the action genre isn’t only because he has colossal muscles.

True Lies is hilarious, action-packed, and even sweet at times. Bill Paxton’s even in it, reprising his role as a terrified colonial marine who pisses his pants at the first sign of trouble (I’m joking, of course. He plays himself. Seriously, you should see this movie).

I know I’m not making a super-solid case, but…

There’s really no more powerful way to convince you than for you to take a walk through Arnold’s filmography, even some of his cheesier work (I recommend Total Recall if you like action-packed sci fi and Sharon Stone). Arnold Schwarzenegger hasn’t won any Oscars, but he’s a solid, reliable and talented actor in the over-the-top action genre. And he’s one of my favourite actors.

Useful Arnold links

• Arnold Schwarzenegger on the Internet Movie Database
• Arnold Schwarzenegger on WikiQuote
• Arnold Schwarzenegger Sound Board

And what better way to kick things off than with some seasonably appropriate fare – Christmas movies! We run down our very favourite Christmas movies, and explain why we think you should drop everything and watch them now.

In the spirit of the holidays, Scott’s comments will be in red, and Adam’s will be in green. Festive!

Christmas Vacation (1989)

Starring: Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Juliette Lewis, Randy Quaid, Johnny Galecki, John Randolph, Diane Ladd

Alright, I may be stuck in the 80′s for Christmas movies, but that’s because these are the ones I grew up with, and that makes them the classics to me.

Chevy Chase is Clark Griswold, a tightly-wound family man who just wants to host the perfect Christmas. Of course when you add in the family, the neighbours, and all the hassle of decorating and preparing… the best he might be able to hope for is averting disaster.

Christmas Vacation is a modern classic. If you haven’t seen this movie yet — go now. Do not finish reading this article… it’ll still be here when you get back, and we can wait.

The thing about Christmas Vacation that gets me every time is that despite the story — which is basically about a Christmas meltdown at the Griswold place — there’s a really heartwarming message at the end. I won’t spoil it for you.

Christmas Vacation is the Christmas we all wished we’d had — out of sheer morbid curiosity to see how we would react — but are eternal grateful nothing so awful has ever happened to us. And that we don’t have family members like Randy Quaid and Juliette Lewis.

I used to hate this film, because I found it depressing, but I think that was because I used to be a dumb kid. Now, I see the unfettered disaster of the Griswolds’ family Christmas and I laugh — I laugh because even though the movie is one colossal exaggeration, we’ve all experienced irritating family members and things that just keep going wrong at Christmas.

So pour yourself some rum and eggnog and settle in with the family for some cheap laughs. Christmas can’t be all serious all the time, anyhow.

Elf (2003)

Starring: Will Ferrell, James Caan, Zooey Deschanel, Mary Steenburgen, Daniel Tay, Edward Asner, Bob Newhart

Say what you will about Will Ferrell’s style of man-child comedy, there’s something endearing about Buddy, a human who was raised by Santa’s elves. His wonder and innocence are what really make this movie.

When Buddy learns he was adopted – or at least taken in – by the denizens of the North Pole, he sets out to find his real father, who turns out to be a curmudgeonly publisher with no Christmas spirit. Hilarity ensues.

On the surface, this is a zany “fish-out-of-water” comedy about a Christmas elf in New York. But at it’s heart is a touching reunion story between a father and a son over the holidays. And Zooey Deschanel gets to sing, which is a plus because she’s adorable.

A really good Christmas movie to get you in the holiday mood, and very family friendly.

I haven’t seen this movie yet, but everyone keeps saying how awesome it is… So I’ll totally see it because of YOU Scott.

And you’ll thank me.

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Starring: Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O’Hara, Paul Reubens

I hadn’t seen any of this movie until last Christmas, when I was being lazy on the couch at my parents, dozing after eating way too much chocolate, and the Nightmare Before Christmas started on TV. So I watched.

And I fell in love with Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, the man who stumbles upon Christmastown and decides to change things up in Halloweentown. This means kidnapping Santa and Jack using his own special brand of scary to bring “joy” to kids at Christmas… which he more or less completely fails at.

Aside from being a visually stunning film — which it is — it’s also a wonderfully original story with some scary, creepy moments… all in the name of Christmas. Absolutely enjoyable for being so unusual, different, and above all a well-written little movie.

Sure the movie has Tim Burton all over it; but even if you’ve hated everything he’s ever done you’ll be drawn in by the fantastic musical score and the amazing characters. Adam hits the nail on the head when he says that part of the charm of Nightmare is how totally unusual it is. I mean, seriously, who came up with the idea to make a Christmas movie as seen through the eyes of a Halloween movie? Brilliant!

This is a movie you’ll want to share with your kids. A worthy addition to this list.

Scrooged (1988)

Starring: Bill Murray, Karen Allen, John Forsythe, Bobcat Goldthwait, Carol Kane, Robert Mitchum, Michael J. Pollard, Alfre Woodard

Arguably my favourite Christmas movie, ever, is this modern retelling of A Christmas Carol. Bill Murray is Frank Xavier Cross, douchebag TV producer. On the night of his greatest triumph – a live Christmas Eve broadcast of A Christmas Carol – he finds himself in a night of revelations that mirrors the classic tale.

I heart this movie. It’s a great retelling of the original tale that stays true to the source material, while drawing it into the modern day of 1988. And while it is a comedy, it doesn’t lose any of the spookiness, or the meaning, of Ebenezer Scrooge’s journey.

This one is on my “watch” list every Christmas, and it never gets old for me.

I LOVE this movie. Love. Bill Murray’s narcissitic capitalist douchebag character Frank Cross is easily one of the more hateable modern versions of Ebenezer Scrooge. But what makes it such a pleasure to watch is that while Cross behaves like a total asshole through much of the movie, he’s extremely likable and the road he rides to redemption — replete with both hilarious and terrifying ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Future — is bumpy, filled with thought, doubt and eventually vindication.

Scott’s right it’s still an extremely spooky film, and some parts I used to find downright disturbing and not so Christmassy. But that’s the point: Cross has a choice to make and it means the difference between being recalled a tyrant or a man worth of praise and love.

The funny thing is that before we started writing this, I was thinking I’d go and buy a copy of Scrooged. Now I think I will. Besides, nothing’s funnier than Bobcat Goldthwait wielding a shotgun upon discovering a redeemed Frank Cross.

NOTE: This is also the only movie where I think it’s acceptable to break into spontaneous song at the end.

“I can’t believe it’s so cold! I hate living here in the winter!”

Seriously, it’s often people who’ve lived in Edmonton all their lives who I hear throw down with complaints about the cold weather. And my response is always the same…

So, move.

I like Edmonton. I like living in Edmonton. And believe it or not, the climate is part of the deal. Yes, it can get cold in the city, and you’ll even occasionally hear me exclaim “Holy balls, it’s cold out today!” But I don’t complain about the cold, because it’s just an accepted part of my lifestyle. I have winter clothes, I live in a region where it can get “Holy Balls” cold out. I deal with it, and go on with my life.

And I’m a total baby when it comes to discomfort. I complain when I stub my baby toe (which hurts like a bitch, and happens all too often for my liking.) What I’m saying is, if I’m a huge baby, and I can handle the cold… what does that make the people who complain?

I’ll tell you what that makes them. Pussies. Cold, shivering pussies.

It’s not like you have no other options. I know many people who migrate, bird-like, to the warmer climes of the U-S-of-A over the winter. You could also head to Vancouver and enjoy a slightly milder, wetter winter. If you’re going to complain, get out.

And seriously, if you’ve lived here more than five years, and you’re still shocked when it actually gets sub-arctic outside… you have no business living in… well, Canada.

“If I wear a coat, I won’t look good at the club!”

This is the second type of person who boggles my mind, and arguably they’re the worst of the two. I can put up with people complaining about the weather Edmonton gets every year, but willfully putting yourself in danger during the extreme cold takes the cake.

I can understand that you might not consider it practical to bring a coat clubbing because you don’t want to check it – possibly at multiple locations – or have it stolen. But that consideration is totally negated by the risk of frost-bite and hypothermia. You can literally freeze your ass off in less than two minutes when it gets under 30 in the wind.

When I drive down the street in my warmish car, Blue, with gloves and a heavy coat on, and I look out the window and see some idiot at the bus-stop in a thin hoodie and a pair of jeans, hands stuck in his pockets, shivering… I have no sympathy, and only rage. Seriously, asshole? What the hell made you think that was a good idea?

I’ve even seen girls in open toed shoes and skirts wearing totally inappropriate winter-wear on Friday or Saturday nights, scurrying to the club as fast as their high-heels will take them. Yes, ladies, those shoes are striking. Shame the price for wearing them could be a broken ankle due to ice, or the loss of your toes due to the wind-chill.

Again, no sympathy. If you’ve lived in Edmonton, you know the risks associated with our sometimes extreme winter weather. If you still can’t wrap your head around it, or wilfully ignore it, you deserve my scorn.

Cold Comfort

I actually really like the winter. I think it’s a lovely time of year, and I look forward to snowfall in the city of Edmonton, which looks as stunning with a layer of fresh snow and lit-up for the holidays, as it does with the trees in full bloom.

I’ve had arguments with people over which is better, extreme heat or extreme cold, and I’m firmly in the extreme cold camp. In the hottest summer weather, there’s only so much you can do to cool down, only so many layers you can shed, and often it still isn’t enough to stop from being uncomfortable. Conversely, there’s always more you can put on, always something you can do to warm up.

So, hop to it, fellow Edmontonians;

- Alberta Health Services has some helpful tips on keeping warm and safe in cold weather.
- Drive safe on the roads.
- Make sure Felix and Fido are cared for and safe.
- Buy yourself a quality snow shovel.
- Get yourself a stylish and comfortable winter jacket.
- Grab a cup of hot cocoa.
- Dust off the toboggan and hit the slopes.
- Bring a Food Bank donation to Candy Cane Lane. Walk it, don’t drive.  It’s better, bring a cup of something hot, and enjoy.
- Spite the cold! Throw a B-B-Q party!

Don’t let the cold get you down, fellow Edmontonians! It’s a beautiful time of year.

Next Time: Books on Tape!

I wouldn’t say I’m obsessed with zombie movies. As a genre, I don’t honestly know a whole lot about its development — though I’m fairly certain that 28 Days Later marked the first appearance of super-fast zombies. No, when it comes to the genre, I don’t know zombie movies… but I know what I like. Films like Dawn of the Dead, Shawn of the Dead, Zombieland, Night of the Living Dead, and I Am Legend are among my favourites. They may not all be great, but I enjoy ever last one of ‘em.

Unfortunately, as far as I know, no one has decided to set a zombie movie in the most obvious of places — the last playground of the well-to-do, the retired, and the nearly dead: the golf course.

Playing through… with bullets

Think about it: a golf course could be an excellent area to defend. Consider, for example, the Edmonton Country Club. I used to work on the grounds crew during the summer for a few years, so I got to know the terrain really well. It’s right in Edmonton’s river valley, has gullies, water hazards and sand traps aplenty, is fenced off and features two buildings — the club house and the maintenance building — in areas with great sight lines and which feature great points from which to fire all kinds of weaponry.

This guy only shoots bogeys, if you know what I mean - photo by Scott Lilwall

But not only that, golf courses are a veritable armoury of unconventional weapons and modifiable vehicles, particularly if the rich old farts frequenting the place have become infected, are now dead (even by undead standards) and have left the keys to their Bentleys and Beamers in their pockets.

Fairway mowers, greens mowers (some ride, some push), tractors, weed whackers, giant sheers, chains — hell have you seen the damage a pressure-washer can do?

And let’s not forget the golf cart. While probably not a deadly weapon when used to run an individual over — be they alive or undead — it certainly would give a zombie something to think about other than eat your brains. The electric ones might not be ideal, but they can all be modified to go faster. All it takes is one of those little golf pencils.

Ah, the things you learn working at a golf course.

Puns! Puns abound!

Golf like so many other sports has its own language. Pars, eagles, bogeys, fore, hozzle, 19th hole… Man, there are so many terms you can use describing a shot, a putt and even a slice. Think of the potential for jokes — both good and bad.

[Immediately after a zombie takes a drive to the head]: “Oooh! You know, I think that one had a bit of a slice.”

[Immediately after crippling a zombie's legs with a five-iron]: “I have a feeling he won’t be making it to the back nine today.”

[Upon seeing a band of zombies driving a golf cart into a gulley]: “Well, I guess we don’t have to worry about letting them play through.”

“FORE!”

[After some guy goes off on a zombie, beating him repeatedly until he's mush, as his friends look on in horror... the guy fixes his hair and adjusts his shirt]: “He didn’t replace his divet.”

Cameos (and maybe the zombie Bob Barker?)

Oh gosh, the potential! Tiger Woods, Lee Travino revisiting his same “shocked onlooker” role from Happy Gilmour. Hell, even Bob Barker could make some kind of Happy Gilmouresque comeback, only as a zombie!

Jesper Parnevik could be one of the supporting characters who’s eventually killed off by the zombie Tiger Woods and an undead nanny. In short: this could be brilliant.

I don’t know the first thing about making movies… Well, that’s not true. I know the first thing, but I lack the equipment, time and resources to do it. So someone else has to. DON’T SQUANDER THIS ZOMBIE-GOLFING OPPORTUNITY. This has “sub-par” written all over it… Oh wait, that’s no good!

An average afternoon in Edmonton?

I consider myself to be an average driver. I make the occasional mistake on the road, yes, but nothing serious and I have certainly never put anyone’s life in jeopardy. I imagine that most people in Edmonton would also consider themselves to be average drivers – or even good drivers.

So why do we have such a bad reputation, as some of the worst drivers in Canada?

Road Rage

I don’t have an answer, but today I happen to find myself thinking about this because of an incident that happened to me recently.

I was stopped at an intersection, turning left from the eastbound lane to go north. I had proceeded into the intersection to wait for the westbound traffic flow to cease, when suddenly a firetruck came up the northbound lane and made to go across the intersection. The drivers along the south portion of the intersection made room for it, and the firetruck passed in front of me.

Then, amazingly, a police car in the left turning lane to go eastbound also lit up it’s lights and went around the car in front of it. Again, I yielded to the emergency vehicle, as a good driver should.

Now, however, we come to the dilemma. While those two emergency vehicles went by, my light had turned red and I found myself – and the car behind me – trapped in the intersection. The green turning arrow had begun to flash for the north and south left-turning lanes.

Common sense would suggest that as I and my fellow traveller were now blocking the southbound traffic flow through the intersection, we should be allowed to clear the intersection despite our red light – before the rest of traffic continued.

But Edmonton drivers don’t appear to have common sense. No less than a dozen cars proceeded to turn in front and around – no small feat- our two trapped vehicles. No one apparently considered that the entire southbound lane was about to be totally obstructed because of that lack of judgement.

When the full green lit up, I gunned it and completed my turn before the northbound traffic went. I hope the car behind me was as lucky.

So, to recap, I properly yielded to two emergency vehicles and was rewarded by a cavalcade of dangerous driving at my expense. And I’ll bet not one of those twelve drivers even thought twice about what they were doing.

Permit for Learning

One of my guilty pleasures is Canada’s Worst Driver, a show on the Discovery channel.

If you’ve never seen it, the premise is pretty simple. Eight drivers from all across Canada are nominated by loved ones for their… questionable motor-vehicle skills. These are real people who’ve been sharing the road with you in our country.

Host Andrew with CWD5 contestants Jakob, Crystal, Angelina, Arun, Father Giles, Mike, Melissa and Jojo.

Through a series of tests, the panel of judges and entertaining host Andrew Younghusband try and rehabilitate these bad drivers so they can be released back onto the road. One of those drivers, however, will be named Canada’s Worst Driver… and won’t be getting their license back.

One of the reasons I love the show is the ever-mounting horror as I realise that many of these drivers have no business behind the wheel. The other reason though, is the educational reason.

By following these people through the program, you pick up tips and tricks on how to drive. I can honestly say that I am a better, more attentive driver thanks to what I’ve seen on the show and I highly recommend you catch up on the fifth season for the same reason.

Come on, Edmonton. If we all brush up on our basic skills and pay just a little bit more attention, it’ll make a load of difference. We’re not Canada’s Worst Drivers, are we?

Next Time: Space Invaders

Are you playing foursquare yet? If not, take a few minutes and check it out, or better yet, sign up. I really have to recommend it, it’s a great tool for getting out and really experiencing the best Edmonton has to offer.

In a nutshell, foursquare is a game set in your city, that challenges you and your friends to earn points and achievements by getting out and doing things. Their site sums it up very well:

It’s foursquare! Think: 50% friend-finder, 30% social cityguide, 20% nightlife game.  We wanted to build something that not only helps you keep up with your friends, but exposes you to new things in and challenges you to explore cities in different ways. (from: foursquare.com)

Now, foursquare is arguably a competition, but you don’t need to treat it as such. I’m approaching foursquare as a way to help me explore Edmonton, try out new things, and share great experiences with my friends.

For example, do you know to ask for Scott when you go to the Moose Factory? He makes a hell of a fruit flambe, right at your table! Well, if you were my friend on foursquare, you’d already know about that. Granted, I don’t have much else on my Top 12 list… but I’ll be adding things as I go, and I’ll be trying out a bunch of what other people suggest.

Frankly, we live in a great city, but it’s easy to forget about all the little things that help make it great. What better way excuse could you need to go out and find those little things, than to get points for doing it?

So feel free to friend me on foursquare, and give me suggestions on all things you think I should be trying out. Just be prepared for me to return the favour.

Next Time: Calcium

I think it’s safe to say, after only knowing Jeff on Twitter beforehand, that I liked this guy right away. We chatted for a bit, discussing such things as roadkill and where we could go in the next ten minutes for dessert. It was the start of something wonderful, and it involved cheesecake.

Sadly, I wouldn’t see Jeff again for a long time… Months later, in fact, at a chance encounter at another downtown pub when Mack and I were crashed (it was a good crash, though, and I don’t mean drunk either). This time, Jeff showed up with community pillar Brittney Le Blanc, as well as his awesome wife Sally Poulsen, who I also liked immediately. And not just because she always calls me dude, but because she’s hilarious and smart. If Sally and Jeff weren’t already married to each other, I’d marry them both, then suggest that they also marry each other in a strange union the likes of which probably aren’t legal in Canada, but which would shock the human race into an era of peace and love.

So you can imagine my delight when the two of them agreed to be guests on the Unknown Studio. And not just because they’re awesome people (which they are), but because they’re entrepreneurial community participants not content to sit on the sidelines and whinge about the things that make them sad. They’re down there in the trenches getting shit done.

I think that’s part of the reason why, back in June 2009, they launched TheEdmontonian.com, a hyperlocal news blog featuring content for and by citizens and well-wishers of Edmonton which you should read… after you finish reading this.

The Space Ghost effect

I think it would be fair to say that Jeff and Sally are fans of the Unknown Studio (please, one or both of you, correct me if I’m wrong). And as you’ll hear in the episode we recorded with them, what they’re trying to do with TheEdmontonian and what Scott and I, it turns out, are trying to do with the Unknown Studio is to provide hyperlocal infotainment — a word you’ll learn I also dislike.

But our two squads (can two people be a squad, I ask you?) being of similar minds, I noticed a bit of a Space Ghost effect taking place… You see Space Ghost, himself the host of a talk show, would often ask his guests questions about himself. “What do you think of my show?” “What do you think of me?” “Are you getting enough oxygen?” I’m extremely self-critical, and I don’t want to be the guy who has people on to talk about himself. Myself. Me.

And I don’t think it came across that way, it’s just a little niggling my brain has placed in front of me.

Enough about me

Regardless of limited self-flagellation, I will say this: I read The Edmontonian every day, and have since it was launched. Not every post, but I’m on there checking it out, seeing what my compatriots have discovered from having their fingers on the pulse of the community. And between the morning headlines, the light-hearted stabbing at the reputation of such hallowed concrete and glass monoliths as Commerce Place, and the actual interviews, reviews, and other stories they publish, it’s a great online resource. One of the best hubs the Edmonton community has online.

And they and the other little hubs are all in good company.

Mine.

(Sorry, I just had to get that in there.)

At the time, I hadn’t played Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, which was discussed in the final segment of the show. This is a game where all of the UCC guys agreed: the story line is incredibly engaging, and the whole thing basically plays like a movie. This was a major topic of discussion, as most of us agreed that one of the most revolutionary leaps forward in gaming recently is a very deliberate attention to detail on storyline.

If you’re into games, I highly recommend you subscribe to UserCreatedContent — Edmonton’s only video game podcast… And not just because I’m on it either. These guys are the future of citizen-video-game journalism and a great addition to the Edmonton Podcasting Scape.

Regardless, Scott and I had Marliss Weber on the Halloween episode of the Unknown Studio. Marliss is an editor at See Magazine, and she has a keen interest in stories of hauntings and ghostly encounters, particularly as they take place here in Edmonton. Marliss has gone on a few ghost hunts in the city, even, using such scientific tools as digital voice recorders (DVRs) which have the uncanny ability of picking up ghostly sounds inaudible to humans. If you download the latest ep of our show, some of her tales will no doubt give you chills.

With so much anecdotal evidence and eyewitness accounts of these hauntings, why is it so hard for me to believe in the existence of this ethereal plane? I think it’s because often the mind sees what it wants to see. In spite of the often, incorrectly touted notion that we only use 10 per cent of our brains at a given time, the human mind is a powerful device. And though a science like psychology is still in its infancy (at least in relation to other more traditional sciences), it helps to explain a lot about why we see what we see.

Add the power of the brain to external forces, such as magnetic fields, and you get apparitions people swear are real. I dug up this old article to illustrate the point:

“Individuals prone to paranormal experiences are sensitive to weak electromagnetic fields and to man-made electrical fields, which are becoming more prominent in the communication age,” explains Persinger, who has studied the link between magnetic fields and paranormal experience for 15 years. [...] In our increasingly electronically charged world, it would seem that midnight apparitions are really just clock radios rather than ghosts.

So should we dismiss the notion of ghosts entirely? I don’t think so. I don’t think there’s enough evidence to say decisively one way or another whether ghosts exist or not — though admittedly I’ve done very little research on the subject. And to my knowledge there are only three scientists who were studying paranormal phenomenon anywhere in North America…

But Drs. Venkman, Stantz and Spengler lost their research grant, all because of a crotchety old dean.

Well.

It’s been one of those months.

October arrived with the ferocity of a rabid, nearly-extinct Tasmanian Devil, and it appears poised to hand the keys over the November with the vigor of an over-coked Bohemian reading beat poetry at one of those hipster coffee houses. Put another way, it’s been an exhausting month. Consequently: not as much writing as I’d hoped.

That doesn’t mean I, and others like me, haven’t been up to all kinds of stuff. They have been. Hence, somewhat, this list:

• Last week, Mack Male launched his much-anticipated ShareEdmonton online calendar, a hyper-local event aggregator that promises to become a central repository of all things #yeg. Check it out, play around with it, and send Mack bugs and feedback.
• Mack and fabulous Calgarian DJ Kelly came up with a very interesting idea: pay everyday Albertans to go on sabbatical — so they can improve the province for everyone. Read about it here and here.
• The Edmonton Oilers have started out the hockey season with some fantastic success. Can it last? Also, note that their record is tied with that of the Calgary Flames.
• My cousin’s restaurant, the Manor Bistro, soft-launched its new visual identity this month. You can check it here. They’ll be launching new menus in November as well!
• The ICE Conference takes place at the beginning of November, and I’ll be demoing one of dub5′s products — a scheduler we developed for the SHINE Clinic.
• Rachel and I carved pumpkins last weekend with her roommate (and roommate’s boyfriend). You can see pics here (Mine’s the normal Halloween-style one).
• Scott and I are recording the Halloween episode of the Unknown Studio this evening, with guest Marliss Weber. Should be a creepy one! Look for the episode to come out on Monday, Oct 26.
• On that note, for all things Halloween, particularly in Edmonton, point your browsers to dEdmonton!
• This very interesting article on Search Engine Optimization has been the centre of some controversy. It’s definitely worth reading if you’re into that sort of thing.
• At some point very soon, I need to see these movies: Where The Wild Things Are, Zombieland, Paranormal Activity, Astro Boy, Cirque du Freak, and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (I love Terry Gilliam), among others.
• Finally, I’ll be a guest on the next episode of Edmonton’s only video-game podcast, User Created Content. I’ll let you know when it’s posted so you can give it a listen.

Here’s what my tweeps had to say about it:

1. alainsaffel: disruption
2. Meeners: 99% of the time I mute it!
3. mspixieriot: Only on a site for a music act, and even then no auto-play… you have to press the play button yourself. Otherwise bad.
4. thecolinium: unless there is video, disruption
5. grempel: hate it.. if u must provide music.. make it quiet.. and clearly display where to turn it off
6. stormbrew: annoying as fuck unless opt-in. (I use the swear to really clearly state how much I despise websites with music, and not lightly at all)
7. buck75: make sure a person has the ability to turn it off. i don’t like it.
8. evolvingblue: as I have music going pretty much 24-7, the first thing I look for when browsing a site with audio is where to shut it off.
9. hilarydarrah: Most of the time I’m already listening to music, so definitely a disruption.
10. chigaze: Autoplay music/sound on a website is one of the ultimate evils. I will close the window! A button to turn on sound is alright.
11. TheTowelBoy: music on websites is annoying….and SOooooo 2005.
12. stygldpnyby: badbadbadbadbad
13. paulney: It can be done well. But VERY rarely is. http://www.jeshderox.com/ as an example of stunningly beautiful UX (including music).
14. steenyweeny: I’m with everyone else. Hate hate hate it.
15. ChrisInEdmonton: I have no words to describe how much I loathe music on websites.
16. MarkCluett: hate hate HATE music on websites. distraction/interrupts other tasks/programs
17. marshaboyd: Annoying….music on websites are distracting and usually bad. Turn it off!!
18. bevurlee: I don’t like it. Especially if it’s auto play!
19. Hunnyfreak: Music that automatically plays when you log on to a website is EVIL! EVIL!!!
20. GuitarKat: Hate it. Only if there’s a play button. No auto play. I listen to music all the time so I will find where to turn it off and such
21. edmsymphony: A lot of symphony websites used to have auto-play music, but lately the trend has been to remove it (thankfully)

The thing to note here isn’t just that people find it irritating; it’s that they absolutely HATE it. And I agree with people. It’s intrusive and disruptive.

I’m going to use this info the next time a client says they want their website to have music. Thanks for your input, everyone!

Part of our discussion turned to stateman (-woman/person) politicians, and how they don’t really exist anymore. I think most people know what I’m talking about when I statesman — I’m talking about the Trudeaus, the JFKs, hell even the Sir Winston Churchills of the political world. And while I think most people get it, I also think I could have done a better job, at least in the episode, of articulating exactly what I meant by stateman.

To me, a statesman politician is someone who gets themselves elected and takes their job seriously. They have a vision for improving their country and of improving the lives of their citizens in measurable, practical and smart ways. They also have a strategy of how to implement their vision. They’ll do these things at the risk of their popularity or re-election chances (although I would argue that if you’re being a proper statesman, you should have improved chances for re-election over those other politicos by virtue of your statesman-ness). They’ll do it because it’s right.

Then I remembered one of my favourite movies ever. It’s a movie that’s totally off the wall, but definitely a reflection of how I wish things worked. It’s a movie called Dave, starring Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Frank Langella and Ving Rhames. It’s actually the movie from which I ganked the titled of this post.

Dave sees Kevin Kline’s character “Dave,” a sometimes-impersonator of the sitting US president (“Bill Mitchell”) and head of a temp employment agency, thrust into the most powerful chair on the planet when the president has a heart attack. The geniuses in the Whitehouse decide to hire Kovic to impersonate Mitchell so they can continue with their nefarious scandals and such. Until Dave wises up to what’s happening and decides to take a stand… FOR AMERICA.

If it sounds campy and over-the-top, that’s because it is. But regardless of camp, it stills serves as a soothing balm when juxtaposed against the dead-eyed cynical heaps of flesh we [generally] call politicians these days.

Dave Kovic believed in the statesman president. When he was suddenly asked to assume the president’s role, he realized just how corrupt everything was. And he decided to go for broke and do something about it.

No one in the Canadian political system wants to go for broke. No one wants to take a tremendous risk (or, hell, several small ones) to improve the state of the nation. Should we expect them to? Yes, we should. We give these people the keys to the nation and they repay us with ad scandals, double-talk and outright dishonesty.

It’s little wonder no one in their right mind wants the hassle of running for public office. The mess that needs cleaning up seems insurmountable. If you want to be inspired by politics, your best bet these days is to rent a fictional movie from 1993 called Dave. You won’t regret it. Here’s one of the best scenes from the film:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcwKI4ld-l8&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b]

1. A reason why she needed this from me (and the answer to that can be found here).
2. Precisely the same information from her.

Well Brittney, being the tremendously good sport (and awesome person) that she is, happily complied. Here, then, is Brittney Le Blanc for you, in living colour — she’s one of the finest Edmontonians out there, and I figured she should have her day in the digital sun as well.

Your name: Brittney Le Blanc

Twitter: @britl

Other place to find Brittney on the net: her fantastical blog

On the job…

Your official job title: I don’t have one, but I’m called Wonderkid a lot, even on the schedule — so let’s go with that. Basically I work in the newsroom, reporting, doing web stuff, and writing. I wear a lot of hats (figuratively and literally).

What’s the best part of the job? No two days are the same. I really don’t know what to expect when I walk through the station doors. Also, I’ve been incredibly curious ever since I was a little girl. Teachers used to hate it. Now I get to ask as many questions as I want!

What’s the worst part of the job? The hours can be a little bit scattered. Just as no two days are the same, my hours on those days might also not be the same. One day I might work 6am – 2pm, the next 12pm- 8pm. It can make it hard to plan things in advance.

How long have you been doing this? I’ve worked with the station almost three and a half years. I’ve been in the newsroom for a year and a bit.

What sort of education did you have to pursue for this job? I went to NAIT and took their Radio and Television Arts program. It was a fantastic program, and I’d definitely recommend it to anyone interested in the industry. It’s very hands-on, and the groundwork it laid made working at an actual station much easier to adapt to.

What skills and experience would you say are necessary for someone to succeed in this industry? You NEED to learn to multitask. At any given time, you’ll be doing about eight things. Learning to “listen multitask” is a huge help. Listening to multiple things at the same time is key. Also, it would help if you have six arms, a motivation to learn and better yourself, and never sleep.

What attracted you to this career? As I mentioned before, I’m VERY curious. I always want to know what other people do, how things work, and where things come from. I’m on a quest to never stop learning, and this job definitely helps with that.

What’s the atmosphere like at work? Depends on the day, and the news of the day. Some days, it’s a blast. Everyone is on their A-game, we’re laughing, producing lots of interesting news stories, and everything just clicks. Other days, there seems to be no news and it’s a lot harder to keep momentum going.

What is an average day like? That’s tough, it really depends on the day, and what I’m doing that day. Normally I would say I come into work, catch up on stories, what people are working on, and either work on/find stories to chase, upload stories to the website, write/rewrite stories, or any other multitude of things.

What are a couple of misconceptions people have about your career? That it’s easy or we only like to follow crime stories and depress the public. We’re not trying to frighten the public, and our job isn’t easy. When news breaks, riots happen, explosions, etc, we are the ones who head out there. We try to bring the most accurate and informative news to our listeners/readers, even when that means dealing with families who’ve just lost a family member or friend, or people who really want nothing to do with us.

I think a lot of people also think we do whatever news stories please us. And although you personally might not care about the Dominos Tournament happening in town or a multi-vehicle collision, we try to bring the community the news they want.

What is the best/funniest/worst thing(s) to happen to you at work? I think one of the funniest moments was covering the big storm this July. I happened to be a few blocks from the CN building, so I drove over there to report from the scene. I wasn’t expecting the storm, so I was wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and my thin iNews880 jacket. A reporter from the Journal and I got caught in a torrential downpour and were pelted with golf ball sized hail. Meanwhile, we were just trying to keep our equipment dry. I was thoroughly chilled and I think I looked like a drowned rat all night.

Another great moment was when the random meteorite streaked across the sky. We all were working and didn’t see it, but the phones went crazy. People saw everything from alien sightings, to communist spy balloons.

One of the worst things we deal with is talking to families that have just lost a child. Amber alerts make our hearts race. It’s all about getting as much information out there as possible. Talking to friends and family of the missing children/teens is nerve wracking. There’s nothing you can really say to comfort them. Everyone gets a terrible feeling in the pit of their stomach until the child is found.

Brittney in #yeg

How long have you lived in Edmonton? All my life. I love this city!

If you weren’t living here, where would you be? Rome. Or possibly Ottawa or Vancouver.

What is your favourite part about Edmonton? I LOVE the High Level Bridge. It’s got to be one of my favourite things. I guess the people in Edmonton are okay too. (Kidding!) I love the community; people are always willing to help each other out. When we need to, our city really bands together.

What is your favourite festival to attend? I haven’t really had the opportunity to attend many this year. The only opportunity I have to go is when I cover the stories. However, I would have to say it would be between the Fringe, Symphony Under the Sky, dEdmonton, or Winter Lights.

What is your favourite restaurant? Probably Mongolie Grill, but it really depends on my mood.

When friends/family come to visit, what’s the first attraction you tell them to visit? I love to show them our River Valley. Of course, they usually just want to head to West Edmonton Mall.

All about Bee Elle Bee

If you weren’t doing your current job, what would you be doing? If I wasn’t in radio at all — I might be a writer. Or maybe work at a pub. I’m not really sure, radio’s been my passion since I was just a little girl, there’s never really been another option.

What is the most interesting job you’ve ever had? I used to work at a little kids birthday place. Part of what I did was run birthday parties for children ages 1-13. To this day I probably could get a bunch of kids in and out of a party room in 30-40 minutes. I also still kick butt at Laser Tag, and could fix any arcade game with jammed tickets.

Favourite Television show? Until I recently got a PVR (thanks company Christmas draws!) I didn’t really watch a lot of TV. I can’t narrow it down to one — but I love How I Met Your Mother, Chuck, Dollhouse, Buffy, Heroes, and True Blood. Although, I’m finding a lot of fault with the last one lately.

Favourite Movie? Amelie, Chasing Amy, Becoming Jane, and both the Die Hard and Batman series.

Favourite Book? Don’t judge me, but I love Pride and Prejudice, Atlas Shrugged, the Fountainhead, Sophie’s World, The Magus, Hardy Boy books, Anita Blake books — and more recently, the Sookie Stackhouse series.

Favourite Musician(s)? Matchbox Twenty, hands down. Then it’s a mix of songs. I find it really hard to have loyalty to one group — I mean look at what Third Eye Blind is doing now. That’s just weird. I love Country music though.

If you could have any super-power, which would you want? Instant teleportation. I wouldn’t have to worry about parking, I’d get more sleep, I’d cover WAY more news and stories… I’d be unstoppable. Plus, I could travel more.

What’s the biggest problem the world faces today? Apathy. A couple of months ago, Lesley Primeau invited Mack Male and myself on her show to discuss Twitter. A man older than both of us was frustrated that “Generation Y” was paying so much attention to the problems of the world, and at home. He wanted us to be more selfish. I think it’s that sort of thought that gets us in trouble.

We need to think more of others, more of our community — both at home and around the world. People 30 and under SHOULD care about politics, should worry about our future, and the future of our city. I’m not saying there aren’t people our age now who aren’t leading the way, but we need more than just them. Apathy won’t get us anywhere, we need passion and smart minds collaborating.

If you won the Lottery, what is the first thing you’d do? Pay off my debts. Really lame, I know. I would probably also throw a big party and buy all my friends Egyptian cotton sheets. I love really nice, soft sheets. I would then buy a penthouse apartment downtown, install A/C, and buy myself a dependable car. I’d save the rest, but probably do something silly and frivolous, like buy myself 365 pairs of new socks, so I’d always wake up and experience that wonderful new sock feeling. (For those judging me for not paying off my Mom’s house — she’s already done that.)

What’s the best part about being you? I can honestly say I’ve never met another me. Which, upon reflection, is probably a good thing for the rest of the world. The best part about being me is the experiences. I always go out there and try new things. I try to never turn down a good experience — as long as no one gets hurt.

Long-time friend and Girls And Bicycles writer Sarah Chan attended and had this to say about PKN5:

“Generally speaking, all the presenters seem to have the common goal of wanting to help make Edmonton a better city. [...] All in all it was a great evening if only to go to something where there are a bunch of people who aren’t necessarily in undergrad and who aren’t super middled-aged either. The demographic was very much to my liking because it was people who are living and working in Edmonton, with the belief that we can do better. Better communities. Better social programs. Better buildings and planning. It’s heartwarming to know there is at least a small segment of young professionals who feel as though it’s worthwhile to take the time to discuss these things.”

You can read Sarah’s full review here.

Mack Male, one of Edmonton’s more prolific bloggers and Twitter kingpin (yes, Mack, I *am* throwing that out there) provides a great summary of PKN5 on his blog:

“I think my favorite presentation was Christian’s. He’s a great speaker, and I’m a sucker for cool technology applied to Edmonton. It’s amazing that he’s created so many 3D models for local architecture. His work is a really great resource for all of us. I also really loved Isha’s presentation, because I think it embodied what Pecha Kucha is all about – an interesting, thought-provoking idea introduced in six minutes and forty seconds. She left me wanting to learn more and wanting to talk to others about it!”

All of this took place on the heels of an article from David Berry at Vue Weekly talking about the upsides and downsides of Next Gen, the committee responsible for organizing Edmonton’s Pecha Kucha Nights. David has a good analysis on Next Gen with some interesting quotes from Next Gen chair Cary Williams (incorrectly named “Cory” Williams, at least in the online version of the story):

“One of the hopes is that Next Gen will be this hub, this glue that bring different people and organizations together and creates a greater community,” sums up Williams. “I want people to be excited about what’s happening here and wanting to contribute to the energy and creative thought here, and I’d love Next Gen to be the pebble in the pond that causes people to get out and be excited about building a community.”

Blogging stalwarts Mack Male and Dave Cournoyer are also quoted in the story. Give it a read!

Here’s another installment of Life Over the Last Few Weeks:

• Mike Kendrick and Conal Pierse are engaged in a battle of wits — using illustrations. You should definitely check out their Sketch War.
• Chris LaBossiere wrote a spectacular post last week about Social Media and the Old Boys Club. Read and comment!
• NHL Pre-season is over. Now the real excitement begins! Over at OilersNation, FlamesNation and CanucksArmy, we’re preparing to roll out some new site features. Keep your eyes open for that!
• Also on OilersNation, Jason Gregor wrote a moving piece this week about his father, who passed away nine years go. Now go tell your dad how much you love him.
• Scott and I recorded two podcasts last weekend, since our next two weekends are jam-packed. We released Episode the Eighth on Tuesday of this week. Check out my update post from Tuesday for details, and click here to download direct from our website, or here to subscribe in iTunes.
• Along those lines, the fabulous and beautiful editors of The Edmontonian profiled the Unknown Studio on their site. Thanks for the shout-out guys!
• The 5th Annual Pure Speculation Science Fiction Festival is taking place this weekend in Edmonton at the Shaw Conference Centre. Register online or at any Happy Harbour Comics Store.
• The National Hockey League has been experimenting with social media, doing NHLTweetups during the playoffs and running a contest users can enter to win tickets. The Edmonton Oilers are getting in on it too. I wonder if this means a big about-face from about a year ago…?

In our last episode (the Seventh), Scott said at the very end of the recording he didn’t expect that we would make it past episode three — having the short attention spans that we do and all. But I can honestly say this little venture of ours isn’t a chore — not even remotely; it’s something I look forward to every recording. In a perfect world, Scott and I would be doing this full time on top of running an Unknown Studio website and doing all the other hilarious random things it is that we do. And we would be paid vast sums of money for our troubles.

Anyhow, we launched Episode the Eighth yesterday and I think it’s kind of a neat listen. Not only did we get to talk to the Festival Organizer of Edmonton’s Pure Speculation Science Fiction Festival (taking place at the Shaw Conference Centre October 2 to 4) Mr Brent Jans, but I really feel as though Scott and I are starting to hit our stride. We sound comfortable. We sound like we’re having fun. It’s because we are.

To those of you who’ve given us a listen, even if you haven’t been into every episode topic: my thanks. It’s great to have your support, and tremendous to receive your feedback. I’m glad to say that more great content is on the way (in our next episode, we talk politics with Daveberta and Duncan Woytaszek).

Scott and I are also going to have a website developed that will probably become home to all my blogging — and Scott’s, as I will force him to write. The Unknown Studio Podcast will always be the flagship, of course. But we’re both so encouraged by how things have gone that we want to become bigger and better.

This is, hopefully, where you come in. If you have criticisms or kudos, we’d like to hear them. Please email me at adam [at] theunknownstudio [dot] ca and share your thoughts with me and Scott. We’re also looking for show sponsors to help us manage our hosting costs and our eventual development costs for the new site.

Above all, please keep listening. That’s why we’re doing this, after all — to share our stories, and those of others in our community.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the ride so far.

SIrna Kolrami is a smarmy Riker-hating prick

Throw a weird finger-wiggling strategy game into the mix, some war games and that insufferable over-achiever Wesley Crusher, and you have yourself some TwitterTrek.

Here’s what Chris and I had to say about the season 2 episode “Peak Performance“:

ChrisHenderson: After an extended hiatus from narcissisim, @bingofuel and I will be live-tweeting #TNG tonight

Bingofuel: are we really watching an episode with Dr Pulaski? She’s like the ugly school marm of the enterpise #tng

CH: she is a much better doctorb than Beverly “The Red Headed Monster Spazz” Crusher. Bite your tongue.

BF: Ooh the Strategema episode… Back when #tng was Data-centric.

CH: @bingofuel Well, you’ve had too much Boone’s.

BF: Pulaski = Bones = #epicfail #tng

BF: Oh yeah this dude is Zakdorn, not to be confused with Michael Dorn

CH: This episode: Picard entertains a hedgehog-like military strategy academic on his ship. No, it’s not Ignatieff. #TNG

BF: Kolrami doesn’t have faith in Riker. Probably because he keeps breathing through his mouth.

CH: Riker is going to “Command the Hathaway.” IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE: http://is.gd/3ts0s #TNG

BF: Riker: “I prefer brains over Braun as well.” Riker, you aren’t in some seedy bar trying to pickup a Zakdorn slutte

CH: Worf is making model ships that he spends a great deal of time on and then lets his temper destroy. Just like his relationships. #lonliness

BF: “acting ensign”. Acting. Bahahahahaha #tng

CH: In this episode, Riker is commanding a ship to play a war game against the enterprise. And he gets to build his own crew. Takes Worf, Geordi

CH: Oh, he also takes Wesley Crusher to be on his crew. Because Riker is enough of an ass that he will lead on a young boy’s innocent crush.#tng

BF: I like how Strategema is played by attached little hair dryers to your fingers #tng

CH: They’re playing, Strategema, a board game now that is somehow less technologically advanced than a Nintendo 64.

BF: Riker, the jock, just got beat by a nerd! Unacceptable. #tng

CH: The Hathaway, the ship playing war games against the Enterprise, is in worse shape than Michael Jackson’s reputation as a babysitter. #tng

BF: Riker and his ragtag crew are on the Hathaway. What a piece of shit.

BF: “Nice job Geordi.” yeah right on genius, you found the ship’s on-switch

BF: Pulaski is Data’s Strategema pimp in this episode, apparently

BF: Geordi: “Wesley! Go and find me the opposite of matter!”

CH: Pulaski is such a middling jerk. She’s making Data play Strategema against the Strategema Hedgehog! #tng MACHINE VS. NERRRRRD!

BF: Data lost… to a NERRRRD #tng

BF: Kolrami has a big hate-on for Riker. I think he’s beardcist

CH: Picard thinks Riker is the best officer he’s ever served with. I guess Starfleet highly regards 1st officers who are unapologetic lotharios.

BF: What’s the #tng equivalent of cigarettes? Because Pulaski sounds like she smoke ten packs of that shit a day

BF: Data: over analyzing Riker’s battle technique; overusing his dippity-do android hair gel

BF: Come to think of it, Kolrami looks like an octogenarian Oompah Loompah

BF: The Riker Lean is prominenty featured in this episode

CH: Picard just not-so-subtlely revealed that he has a massive crush on his first officer. Riker has a good Riker-lean going on.

BF: It’s weird how the Ferengi are the go-to species in he first two seasons of #tng

CH: Holy good god! Quark just showed up! Wearing a massive chain of gold pressed latinum. The Ferengi are so bloody stupid.

BF: “ferengi” sounds like Italian for rotten pasta

BF: That’s right quark… Go back to the promenade and peddle your shitty mojitos #tng

CH: @bingofuel SPACE mojitos.

BF: Now Data is figuratively beating the piss out of Kolrami at Strategema. And that little bitch is a sore loser

BF: Data used the phrase “busted him up” proving that he is actually a lower middle-class urbanite with a penchant for douchebaggery

CH: This episode was so Riker-centric that @bingofuel grew a beard during the course of our tweets: http://twitpic.com/iepud

• Scott and I recorded and launched episode seven of the Unknown Studio last week. This show, we interviewed Dan Tencer, host of Inside Sports on 630 CHED. Dan’s a knowledgeable guy, and it was fun to spend an hour picking his brain. Thanks for being on the show Dan!
• Since Daveberta and I collaborated on the Ed Stelmach poster awhile back, we’ve finally settled on a concept for a Brian Mason poster. However, it’s tough finding decent hi-res, Creative-Commons-licensed pics of Mason. If you know where I can find any, please drop me a line in the comments.
• The NHL pre-season is officially underway, and in typical OilersNation fashion, one of our writers Wanye Gretz has selected his star and his goat for the year. Who will yours be? (I went with Khabibulin as my star and Staios as my goat.)
• On the podcasting front, I’ve been listening to friend Ramin’s podcast User Created Content over the last week (caught up on my most recent episodes!). Give them a listen if you’re into videogames. These boys have a great little show!
• I managed to track down a fantastic bottle of wine last week. It’s Argentinian: Fuzion Shiraz-Malbec. At $11.99 a bottle, you’ll be amazed how good this wine is! The real kick in the nuts, though, is that in Toronto you can usually find this bad boy for only $9. Damned privatized liquor sales!
• On the heels of Kanye West’s VMA outburst, you can now get Kanye to interrupt your own website, using Kanyelicio.us. I don’t care for Taylor Swift’s music, but Kanye’s just such a overbearing douche… Still, I love his music. So much internal conflict!
• And just because he was so well-behaved when I took some pictures of him this week, here’s Vinny the Husky doing what he does best: laying around, panting, and looking cute:

As the night progressed, Andy and I had fabulous barbecued pizza and Big Rock Lime beers, a decent happening for a Tuesday night. Oh, and we were treated to some really outstanding views. I snapped two pics of this beautiful building — one at dusk, and one at night. I just wanted to share both with you.

Democracy! With a dash of progress in the form of background cranes

Uh... Darkmocracy?

]]> http://theunknownstudio.ca/2009/09/democracy-can-be-beautiful/feed/ 0 http://theunknownstudio.ca/2009/08/missing-albertas-premier/ http://theunknownstudio.ca/2009/08/missing-albertas-premier/#comments Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:22:12 +0000 Adam Rozenhart http://scientyst.wordpress.com/?p=517 Dave Cournoyer and I had beers last week. It was the beginning of something beautiful, as Dave filled me in on his take on politics in the province and country, and I told him why I am variously awesome. Dave’s a keen political observer, and though he’s been branded a lefty by some — because he once worked for the provincial Liberals — I see Dave as more of a post-partisan. He’s disaffected by all political parties, and particularly by the state of politics in Alberta.

And rightly so.

One of the topics Dave and I discussed over beers was where, exactly, Ed Stelmach had gotten to. No one has heard a peep from the man since the day he promised us that the beers Dave and I were consuming wouldn’t cost more on account of taxes — recession be damned!

We weren’t sure of the premier’s whereabouts, so we decided to put up “Missing” posters, imploring someone — anyone — who has seen Steady Eddie to let us know. Check it:

You can download the print-quality PDF here. Please print these off and post them all over your towns and cities!

I’m sure you’ve seen some of the major offenders yourself, “Indeed, methinks blah blah blah.”

The wonderful thing about the web is that the main method of communication is through writing. The terrible thing about the web is that it allows douchebags to experiment with language, and sound like complete and utter knobs.

Below is a shortlist of some of the words and phrases I’ve come across that are just so egregious that they should be banned from use entirely. And just so you know, I’ve been variously guilty of using all of these words and phrases myself.

1. “Methinks”: This is meant to be a humourous old English phrase. It’s supposed to be ironic. But over the last few weeks I’ve seen a half dozen or so people use this word completely unironically. The phrase you’re actually looking for is “I think,” unless you’re trying to be hilarious and it’s the 14th century.
2. “Indeed”: The definitions for this word are variously amusing. My interpretation of them is this: “indeed is a word used to emphasize that which has already been stated, and unless you’re a total knob, you actually never have to use the word ‘indeed’ unless you’re just trying to sound like a pompous douche.” Indeed, I suspect many of you already knew this. Yes indeed.
3. “The fact is”: This phrase really grinds me. I think nearly every time I’ve heard someone begin a statement with “the fact is,” I’ve discovered later that, in truth, the fact isn’t.
4. “I daresay”: Like human vestigial organs — the appendix or the tail — “daresay” is a word that should have been surgically removed from the English language about two centuries ago. Use of the word “dare” in this compound word hardly adds to the mystique. Instead of “venturing to say” something, just come out and say it. I dare you.
5. “Needless to say”: Really? Needless to say? Then don’t fuckin’ say it.
6. “In my humble opinion” (not to be confused with the infinitely better “in my opinion”): I find often — though not always — those individuals offering up their “humble” opinions aren’t very humble. People use this phrase to soften then blow of something they know people are going to vehemently disagree with. Don’t be so afraid to share your proud or overbearing opinion. You aren’t fooling anyone with this “humble” business.
7. “Just sayin’”: Yeah, clearly. By virtue of the fact that you’re saying it, we can see that you’re “just sayin’.” Still, thanks for pointing it out to us knuckle-dragging word-simians.

Needless to say, this post indeed makes me come across as a curmudgeonly jerk. I daresay many of you will disagree with me, but the fact is these are words and phrases that we should do away with. In my humble opinion, they make the writer sound like a douchebag, and methinks that harms a writer’s credibility.

Just sayin’.

First off, Venting is completely anonymous. And for a fairly credible media organization, I don’t think keeping an anonymous sniping section in their newspaper drives the credibility meter up into the stratosphere.

Second, it’s not quite like Twitter. I’d argue that while most of the people I follow on Twitter make nice (generally), Venting is a place for trolls. If people on Twitter act like dinks, there’s a real-time community there to put them in their place. A lot of people on Twitter also choose to identify who they are (like me), though not all people do this. There’s no mechanism in Venting to say to someone, “Hey, Ted from Fort Saskatchewan, who hates all people less than 5’4″ tall, that’s extremely dumb what you just said,” or “Wow, Steven from Holyrood, the level of qualified ignorance you just conveyed really makes me worry for future generations of the human race.”

In a way, though, having a Venting section is a somewhat democratic thing to do: open up the Journal’s pages to those not eloquent enough to collect their thoughts and write a proper letter to the editor. Give anonymous douchebags too cowardly to share their views and attach their name to them a street-corner soapbox from which to share their asinine vitriolic rants.

I’m sorry, but Venting is a tremendous waste of ink. It adds exactly no value to the Journal, and in fact takes it down a notch when you compare that (albeit small) section to the Journal’s other hallowed pages. Venting reads like the Edmonton Sun’s letters section: nasty, brutish and short.

I’d be happy to see the newspaper do away with Venting. Save that space for more local content, and let the trolls have at ‘er in the online comments section of the newspaper. Who knows, maybe a troll or two will amass enough brain matter (by proxy, of course) to write a proper letter to the editor denouncing local drivers and their inability to use turn signals; or the fact that smokers are, like, totally being marginalized and shit.

But what do I know? I guess I’m just venting.

To all of you who wrote me during the airport debate I wanted to take this opportunity to get back to you and explain the choice that I made. I apologize for the group email but there were just far too many emails to respond individually.

I also apologize that I was not able to respond to you at the time but we were so deluged with correspondence arguing passionately both for and against that I could not respond at the time. I was able to read all of your emails as they came in and your arguments weighed heavily in my decision making, but I must apologize that I was not able to respond until now.

I know many of you are pleased with the decision made and many are deeply disappointed. I can assure you that none of us took the decision lightly. I for one am fully aware of the magnitude of the decision and spent a great deal of time researching the issue before coming to my conclusion.

The one thing I felt was most important was that I made my decision based on the long term future of the city and not on a short term window. To this end I wanted to get a clear sense of what the likely future was for aviation. I was lucky that during the recent ICLEI conference on future city sustainability we had transportation experts from across the world in the City and I took the opportunity to bend their ears on the subject. Their response was unanimous, the future for short haul, small aircraft flights such as could be served by the muni is not good. Transportation in fact is likely to move in the opposite direction.

The worst case scenario for me was always that we would continue to be indecisive on this issue. Many thought after the vote in 1995 that the issue was decided once and for all, but it seemed to come back every three years with arguments to reverse the decision to move all scheduled flights to the international. Every time it was re-debated it made it harder and harder for the airport to plan for any kind of future and for the businesses that were there to have any kind of certainty. At minimum I knew that whatever decision we made had to be clear.

It was also important, with the number of large decisions coming in the near future such as NAIT and the LRT, that we not make one decision today and then make a different decision three to five years from now.

I know many of you will disagree with me, but I have come to believe that for the long term future, a downtown airport is not the best use of that land. I suspect it would be used by fewer and fewer Edmontonians and ultimately would become a very expensive private airport. It was time to make a decision.

In so doing I also felt that two other things were critical. That if we were to develop the land it should be done by the City with an eye to coming up with a quality new district rather than an eye to just making a quick buck off the land. The fact that the City is the land owner and can plan and manage how it develops gives us the opportunity to do something truly remarkable. This has been guaranteed in the motion that was passed.

I also feel strongly that we must make an extra effort to preserve and honour the history of the airport on the site. I realize that we will not be able to do this in connection with a useable landing strip, but there are many other things that can and must be done to honour the many whose histories are embodied in that airport. I promise that I will fight hard to make sure that that history is recognized, supported and honoured.

And finally, although I had some hesitation with the motion to do it as a staged closure, for a number of reasons it is the best way to go. No future use of the airport will happen overnight, and there is no need to deprive those currently using the airport of its use until such time as there is a need to do so. That could be many years off before there is a complete closure. In the meantime the airport will be available to all who are currently using its runways. It also mitigates the negative effect on the businesses that have called the airport home by giving them more time to respond to the future.

This encapsulates my thinking on this issue. I know many of you agree and many of you disagree. It has certainly been the hardest decision I have been faced with while on Council. It is always scary to have to cast a vote like this because I am always aware that despite all the research done I may be wrong. The future cannot be perfectly predicted. But I felt the most important thing was to make a clear decision and I have done so with some strong belief that the right decision has been made.

Thank you again for your letters and emails.

Ben

Again, I was satisfied with the decision, and I’m glad to see that it wasn’t one that was taken lightly. Thanks for responding to my letter, Councillor Henderson

A further note: Councillor Henderson has informed me that he’s in the process of creating his own blog. I’ll write and tweet about that as soon as he says it’s up.

The Muttart Conservatory closed in March 2008, and underwent some fairly heavy-duty renovations. They didn’t actually open again until June 27, 2009. According to a press release from the City of Edmonton, a lot of the renos had to do with expanding instruction space inside the facility, and moving a new café and gift shop to the front of the facility.

More on the renovations from the release:

The $6.3 million project was completed on budget and funded by the Muttart Foundation, Provincial Government and the City of Edmonton.

• Muttart Foundation $600,000
• City of Edmonton $1,930,000
• Provincial Government $3,800,000 (Municipal Sustainability Initiative, $3,000,000; Major Community Facility Program Grant $800,000)

Post-renovation, the space looks wonderful. The front entrance features some of the most tasteful concrete work I’ve seen in a long time, which is surprising for a place that’s supposed to be all about plants. Here’s a picture of Rachel barely containing her excitement about our outing:

Brushed steel belies the greenery inside...

The Conservatory is laid out as four large glass pyramids with an enclosed courtyard in the centre. The courtyard section includes a café, gift shop, information and cashiers booth, a large seating area, and several classroom spaces (they have both wet and dry classrooms — wet, I think, for the planting experiments kids get to do).

The Edmonton sky through plate glass

Rachel and I decided to step into the “feature” pyramid, which the Conservatory changes up every now and then. While we were there, it was a jazz/music theme, with some really interesting art, including some giant, jazz-playing fish:

White men can't jump, but fish CAN play the saxophone

Admittedly, I found the space kind of hokey. Rachel and I both dug some of the artwork festooning the walls, but it didn’t feel like a terribly-well integrated display. Having said that, I have no idea how one should do a featured pyramid, and all the plants were still terribly beautiful.

The feature pyramid had lots of these little guys

Anyway, it was a great first choice pyramid to check out because everything just got better from there on in.

Next, we decided to check out the temperate pyramid, seeing how we were expecting the plants in there to be a little less novel. And while there were definitely some familiar plant-life, there was also a great deal of variety of temperate flora that wasn’t recognizable to us.

Strange, yet beautiful. LIKE ME

We then proceeded to the desert pyramid, figuring on saving the best for last in the tropical pyramid. There were all manner of cacti and oddly-shaped plants in this arid greenhouse. My favourite cactus was the one that resembled an owl:

A wise old cactus

Because I was using a macro lens, I didn’t take any shots of the whole pyramids. Just super-close-ups of plants. In hindsight, more expansive shots to give you an idea of the layout would have been ideal. But I’m selfish like that…

Rachel and I finished off our excursion in the very humid tropical pyramid. Huge plants and beautiful flowers surrounded us.

Size matters: this gives you some idea of scale

The Muttart is one of those attractions that, as an Edmontonian, I definitely take for granted. I hadn’t been to the Conservatory since I was in grade school, and though I don’t remember it all that much from back then, I’m dead certain that I didn’t enjoy it as much then as I did when we went there in July.

We will definitely be going back, only next time we’ll bring some food to take with us into one of the more serene pyramids so we can enjoy an indoor picnic that rivals some of the nicest outdoor spots in Edmonton.

Mack’s right, that’s exactly our problem: a severe lack of pride in our city because it isn’t something or someplace else. And this statement is one that doesn’t take into consideration the efforts of building Edmonton into a global city in the next ten to 20 years. I’m talking about efforts by individuals citizens, by groups of organized citizens, and even by politicians, though I’m sure the cynics among you might think otherwise.

When I was younger, I used to shit on Edmonton constantly. “There’s nothing to do here,” “Downtown’s dead,” “Whyte Ave is a slobbering drunkfest.” And this may have been true, ten years ago (often, sadly, Whyte Ave continues to be a slobbering drunkfest). But there’s plenty to do in Edmonton, and the tools to find out what’s going on are becoming more and more accessible thanks in part to individual citizens blogging and broadcasting about the goings-on here; the City itself is using social media and its own website to disseminate information to people.

For a city that was once known only for its hockey team or its giant mall, Edmonton’s changed quite a bit since my childhood. Or perhaps it hasn’t changed all that much. One thing that has changed, in my mind, are the number of people becoming engaged and involved in the way the city runs, and the way its cultural institutions integrate with other civic agencies and businesses. Individual citizens appear to be more engaged than ever before because of the ease of information flow thanks to the web, social media, and certain champions of the city who have decided to try and get the word out. And this is key.

From the time I graduated high school just over ten years ago until I graduated from University about six years ago, there was a steady bleeding of talented, smart Edmontonians seeking opportunities in other more progressive cities. They wanted to live in places where communities were active and vibrant, where they could walk to a corner market and buy produce, or head a few blocks down a street and find a festival or event taking place. These types of amenities don’t spring up overnight. It takes the effort and will of engaged and passionate people to build those types of things in their own communities.

Thankfully, since my convocation, there have risen individuals who’ve decided that enough is enough.

Edmonton can and should be a place where all of these amenities are available. We now have the Downtown Farmers’ Market, and our festivals are increasingly recognized as world-class (I loathe that phrase, but there you have it) and steadily growing in their sizes and scopes. Even the City itself is getting into the spirit of things, attempting to engage citizens and draw them our of their homes during the typically dead winter.

The thing to remember about all of this? These things take time.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and Edmonton won’t become a centre of cultural diversity, business innovation, or a tourist destination up there with larger Canadian cities like Vancouver and Montreal overnight. I mean, it’s taken more than ten years for Jasper Avenue to not be completely devoid of life. And it’s not even half-way along to the bustling street it could be. But it’s moved forward, and it continues to do so.

And that is what people who see the potential of Edmonton are doing: moving the ball forward. Because we don’t want this just to be the city with a big fuckin’ mall. We want it to be a city that’s really great to visit, really great to live in, and really great in general.

We’re getting there, slowly and surely, thanks to passionate Edmontonians.

Hilarious link? Copy, paste and broadcast it to any number of people you know or are merely acquainted with. Find an embarrassing email? A weird image? Share it with the world. Encourage others to copy and paste. That’s how memes develop.

Ah yes, I love the smell of Internet in the morning!

However sometimes people “abuse” copyright and don’t properly credit artists or seek artists’ permission to use their works — a fact caused in part by the extreme lag and lack of ductility inherent in the law. So it goes.

Thankfully, we’ve born witness to the rise of Creative Commons, and many artists, writers — and poorly labeled “content creators” — are rightly jumping onboard. However, this still makes accessing and using older works complicated, and the notion of mashing these older works up with new stuff is typically met with extreme skepticism, if not extreme litigation. Still, [sometimes] anonymous mash-up auteurs soldier on, for their love of music or film (or whatever they’ve managed to mash-up) — of new permutations and potentials for collaborations that never were.

My first exposure to mash-ups was a really good one — exemplary, in fact. It wound up being one of the more popular music mash-ups to date. It caused a stir in the copyrights and copyfights communities. It launched a DJ’s career at least somewhat. It’s even stood the test of time.

It was DJ Danger Mouse’s The Grey Album, a mash-up of Jay-Z’s The Black Album and the Beatles:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vQF2JzpNi0]

After The Grey Album, I was hooked. I managed to stumble upon mash-up master dj BC from Boston, who did an unbelievable mash-up of Dixieland Jazz with the Wu-Tang Clan called Wu Orleans. And once you hear Wu-Tang rappin’ along side to The Dirty Dozen Brass Band you’ll never look at ODB and crew the same again:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhPmfNUOdkQ]

(Admittedly the version above isn’t synced correctly, but you get the scope of radness, I hope.)

Next, dj BC cranked out the second “Beastles” album he’d done, this one called Let It Beast. The Beatles were back, only this time they were benefitting from the outstanding lyricism of my favourites: the Beastie Boys:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJs9MOUNVwU]

Most recently, I’ve come across Jaydiohead and the Hood Internet. My friend Pauly’s even gotten into the mash-up scene and started a site called Paulcasts (and by the way, he’s definitely an unplucked gem. Share and share often). If Pauly’s any indication of the passion mash-up artists have for music, then only good can come from this. And though the frothing foaming mouths of hungry litigators seem, for the moment at least, less pervasive than they did even a few years ago, you can bet your ass the old-man-run record labels still haven’t figured out what to make of all of this.

What they’ve failed to make, also, is money — which they could be doing by the truckload, I suspect, if only they had the brains to collect the very best mash-up artists, pay them handsomely, and earn a tidy sum off their talents. Or, since the landscape of ownership has changed so much and the methods of production and distribution are cheap as free, at least find some way to encourage this and try and earn revenue off royalties — nothing exorbitant and extortionist like the Big Labels’ halcyon days of money-swimming à la Scrooge McDuck (himself a mash-up of Donald Duck and Mr. Lodge from the Archie Comics, I think) — but enough to feed the necessary mouths and turn a princely, if not kingly, profit.

Alas, after all the time since Napster, LimeWire, and Bit Torrent, no one’s figured it out. So people continue to hide and seek and steal. And download and share. And culture propogates across the virtual landscape, onto MP3 players, USB keys and maybe even the radio waves (at least the college ones) into the real landscape. And I think this is a good thing, this building upon of culture, this combination of ideas and sounds.

Besides, I’m dying to hear whose lyrics can be mashed up with the Beatles’ music next…

This is the third in a short series of posts about my family’s history, living in Canada as landed immigrants in the 1950s and 60s. You can read the second tale here, and the third one here. This particular series discusses my mother’s experiences living and working on a southern Alberta farm as a child. This will be the final post of this brief series.

There is a particular curse word in French that is quite vulgar when translated literally into English. However, the French no longer see it as such. It’s as common an insult in French as “idiot” is in English — it’s long taken on lesser connotations. If you aren’t sure what the word is, take a look at the first syllable in the word “connotations.” Maybe now you can imagine its English equivalent.

You’ll also find this word —con (pronounce like “cone” but the a very shortened “n” sound) — in the first syllable of the French word for jam: confiture. Georges, the beloved French farm-hand who worked for my grandfather when my family had its farm in southern Alberta, could not — nay, would not have breakfast without bread. And he would not have bread without his confiture. Mum and her twin brother René knew this. Knew it so well, that one morning, they decided to hide all the confiture.

So when Georges sat down that morning to help himself to breakfast — his bread and confiture — there was none to be found. Thus the question arose, “Où est la confiture?” Georges was asking.

“Oh, tu veux de la CONfiture?” came the response from the twins. “Je ‘n sais pas où est la CONfiture.” This particular emphasis and inflection was, quite sensibly, a great source of consternation for poor Georges. Georges le con. Not kind. And likely no help that my grandparents found that little gag particularly funny.

Georges eventually left Canada and headed back to France, though I think it had more to do with the fact that he really missed France. I don’t think Georges was integrating well in western Canada. I doubt the twins were helping much.

My mother and her brother stuck it out in Canada, though. Matter of fact, all my mum’s family did.

René steadily made his way eastward, stopping in Saskatchewan to join the RCMP, where he developed a deep-seated aversion to Shepherd’s Pie. He eventually found his way to Montréal, got married, had two children who are now in their 30s and worked as an RCMP member in charge of protecting federal politicians when they came over from Ottawa. He was front-and-centre during the FLQ Crisis.

René is a nationalist who guarded Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chretien, among others. Both of them, he says, were very nice, very cool people. Some other federal leaders — I’m sure you can imagine which ones — he doesn’t speak so fondly of. René (and his wife) is retired now and spends most of his time cycling and cross-country skiing in and around Montréal.

Mum stayed in Western Canada, in Alberta. She made her way up to St Albert, a bit of a haven for the French among the blue-collar anglophones in the centre of the province. She worked at a law firm, and eventually met my father, somehow convincing him not to become a priest. (I learned this fact about three days ago. Needless to say, a series on my father is in order.) Mum married dad in 1969, got pregnant in her first year of University and spent the next 25 or so years raising three boys, including myself.

I think she did all right.

Mum speaks with a clear fondness for the farm, but is happy to be a city girl now, where she has access to creature comforts she’s become accustom to. And all the confiture she would ever need.

This is the third in a short series of posts about my family’s history, living in Canada as landed immigrants in the 1950s and 60s. You can read the second tale here. This particular series discusses my mother’s experiences living and working on a southern Alberta farm as a child.

I wish I could say that my Mum and René left Georges be. But if they had, I wouldn’t have such tragic and funny stories to tell. So we plod on, and discuss some of Georges’ evening habits… and his fears (aside from the twin spawn of my grandparents).

When I last spoke with Mum and René, they told me and my brothers that Georges had a bizarre aversion to gophers. He didn’t dislike them as some people do magpies or mice. He was afraid of them. Evil vicious little things, he thought.

Naturally, the twins wanted to leverage this little-known fact. And since the last story I told you dealt with Georges’ morning routine, I’ll tell you a little bit about his evening routine.

It would seem, through some clandestine reconnaissance, René had discovered Georges’ method of getting into bed. The man liked to climb under the sheets, and jam his feet toward the foot of the bed underneath the covers. René’s mischievous brain conceived of putting a bunch of brushes into the foot of Georges’ bed just underneath the covers. Combine Georges’ foot-shoving behaviour with a fear of gophers, and you have a truly nightmarish way of falling asleep.

René found some brushes and did just that. These would be the gopher stand-ins and would help Georges’ learn the true meaning of terror. But what’s terror without pain? Nothing, according to my uncle. So he found a detached sledgehammer head.

He found it because on the farm, these things are always lying around somewhere. He also found it because he went out looking for it thinking to himself (en Français), “I’m going to find something very very hard — the head of a sledgehammer — and place it in Georges’ pillowcase.”

And that’s what he did.

And then it was bedtime. It actually never occurred to me to ask my mum if they went to bed early or late. I think it really depended on the time of the season. Sometimes you had to stay up late working and always you had to get up early. Georges was no doubt settling down for a good night’s sleep after a long day of back-breaking farm work and avoiding the twins. My mum and her brother were no doubt barely containing themselves in their own beds as they waited and listened for Georges to discover the gift they’d left for him.

From Georges’ perspective, and in my imagination, it went down a little something like this:

Position self on bed. Slide feet quickly into the foot of the bed under the covers. Feel something unusual brushing against feet, triggering thoughts of evil gophers. React by stiffening and slamming body very hard into the mattress… and pillowcase. Bash head on sledgehammer head that used to be a very soft pillow. Experience a combination of terror and extreme pain simultaneously. Nearly wet self. Hear laughter of irritating bugger children. Become enraged. Curse loudly in French.

Knowing what little I do know about Georges, I would imagine the poor man had a very awful sleep that night. Nightmares of some kind of terrible reverse Whack-a-Mole dancing over his brain. Désolé, Georges!

In my next post, I’ll tell you about how the twins were able to ruin Georges’ breakfast. And I’ll cap off this short series with some words on the kinds of things my uncle and mum have accomplished since their childhood.

Antony Ta, whom I know through Twitter and his frequent commenting on OilersNation.com, has also been a contributor to my old writing stomping grounds the Gateway at the University of Alberta. You can read his stuff here.

And, of course, you should check out his new blog, and the latest addition (at least as near as I can tell) to the Oilogosphere: An Oilers Refinery.

I guess life on the farm is extremely routine and regimented. It has to be. Mum lived on a dairy farm in southern Alberta, near Lethbridge, for most of her childhood. I remember hearing stories about how awful the children in her school were to her and her twin brother René. You don’t speak the language, you’re different, and so you’re the object of extreme prejudice by the other — more Canadian, more normal — children. I count myself lucky I never had to experience anything like that. But whatever happened at school, Mum was lucky enough to have René, a built-in best friend. I can’t imagine what it’s like having a twin sibling…

In any event, school was soon forgotten when René and Mum got home, or when they had to wake up first thing in the early morning to milk the cows. Ever present, though, was their desire to bug poor Georges, the wayward Frenchman who never stood a chance.

Georges was a man of particular habits; he liked his toast his certain way and he liked his daily schedule his certain way. What he didn’t like were children, due in large part to my grandparents’ kids and their constant interference with his routine. This was a time before even television or the web. Kids had to occupy themselves somehow. René and Mum occupied themselves with disrupting Georges’ life.

Georges had a pair of slippers he always kept on the porch. In the morning, when he’d wake up, and before he had breakfast, Georges would go upstairs, open the door to the porch, step outside, slide into his slippers and keep right on walking, as though the slippers magically found themselves on his feet. Without a misstep, Georges was on his way.

Until the morning René nailed Georges’ slippers to the deck, my mother watching on, complicit in the whole scheme.

I imagine it a morning like any other, only this particular morning saw Mum and René on the edge of their seats at the breakfast table. And so it went: Georges hauled himself up the stairs, through the kitchen, out the door, onto the porch and into his slippers. However, on this particular morning, his full stride was stopped completely short. I imagine his thoughts of confusion as he tumbled face-first into the floor of the porch; an immediate sense of panic, turned to confusion, then realization at what was going on, then rage and some concept of whole was responsible — all before he experienced a great deal of pain.

Mum never mentioned Georges swearing, not with curse words, anyway. He’d say things like “Espèses de cons!” and “Mais qu’ils sont fous!” Nothing terribly earth shattering. But this time, the curses came fast and they came furious as Mum and René giggled until they were disciplined by their parents.

A single, solitary example of the life Georges led in Canada.

In my next post, I’ll tell you a little bit about my Mum’s discovery of Georges’ bedtime routine… and his fear of gophers.

And I know my parents have conducted themselves both wonderfully and questionably throughout their lives. That’s human nature. But my mother and her twin brother were always up to no good, particularly when they were children; particularly when they were new immigrants (moved here from France when they were just kids); particularly when they were living and working on my grandparents’ farm in southern Alberta.

Mum and René were, more often than not, up to no good. By their own admission, they reveled in scaring the living shit out of their nieces and nephews playing late-night hide-and-seek — my Mum’s eldest sister, herself a mother of ten, is about 15 years older than mum, which means Mum was an aunt at a very young age.

But Mum and René took particular pleasure in tormenting a Frenchman named Georges, who came to Canada one summer looking to work as a farm hand. The Canadian government hooked Georges up with my grandpa, himself a recent immigrant who spoke both official languages (Truly, I think he understood some English, and relied on his children to help him with the rest). I think the government figured on this being a simpler transition for Georges than sticking him with a bunch of English farmers, language barrier and all. What they didn’t figure on was a pair of mischievous French kids.

I’m a first-generation Canadian. Both of my parents are European immigrants who jumped on boats in the 1950s with their families (my father’s family with five children, my mother’s with ten!) and made their ways here to start new lives. My dad led a distinctly urban life, even when he lived in Holland. My mother was raised on a farm both in France and in Canada, though you wouldn’t know it now for her love of all things urban. I take a great deal of pride in my origins (and having spoken French my whole life, identify with that particular part of my heritage), and seeing my mother and her “beau frère” recount their childhood memories last weekend was nothing short of beautiful and inspirational.

Over the next few posts, I’m going to share with you some of Mum and René’s stories, providing context about their upbringing as it relates to their present dispositions. I recognize fully that my parents, my wonderful aunts and uncles, will not be around forever — another sad fact of human nature. I’ve always told myself I’d write a book about my family, since so many of my aunts, uncles, and cousins have such a diversity of experience and I tend to manage to drill down to the interesting bits of their life-stories. I hope you’ll join me over the next little while, as I discuss the poor Frenchman Georges, who didn’t stand a chance in my Home and Native Land.

In his piece, Babiak makes these rather bold statements:

“What happened this week was a masters class in the present and future of political organization. [...] [I]t must have been devastating for the city’s most powerful men and women to watch a group of virtually connected — but politically unconnected — young people creating and controlling public debate with speed, elegance and respect.”

I’m somewhat skeptical of the statement, in spite of having been engaged and involved in the debate, going so far as to e-mail my city council reps Jane Batty and Ben Henderson about the issue. However, the more I started thinking about it, the more it occurred to me I’m too entrenched in the issue, too much a part of the whole story, to really take a long view of whether or not this is truly a significant shift in the way discourse is performed, and the way changed is achieved. I will endeavour to take the long view anyhow.

Whenever I read a politician state, as Mayor Stephen Mandel did in Babiak’s story, “I think we’re seeing a dramatic change in politics. Those traditional ways of lobbying, of getting the word out, that same old cast of characters, don’t mean as much,” I kind of shake my head. How many times has this been uttered about emerging technology? And how many of those technologies wind up being flashes in the pan?

But then it occurred to me: this pan has been flashing brightly and for a long time. We saw it with Bill 44, a debate which will continue thanks in no small part to sensible Edmonton-Whitemud Tories, we saw it on a global scale with Iran (particularly when the US State Department apparently asked Twitter to keep the servers running for a little while after their scheduled maintenance window to ensure Iranians had a place to congregate and broadcast online), and we saw it with the City Centre Airport debate and decision.

What does everyone else think? Is Babiak’s piece prophetic or over-the-top?

Given what I’ve seen on Twitter since I signed up almost a year ago, and indeed on other social media platforms, I’m leaning heavily toward the former. I’ve witnessed increased engagement outside of political party lines with organizations across the city like NextGen and Better Edmonton. Blogging, tweeting, using Facebook… Individuals like Mack Male and Jordan Schroder have this as down to a science as anyone else, and they use these media very effectively and organically. Effectively for obvious reasons (how many among you who emailed your councillors would have done so on other issues?). Organically because the two (and a group of other concerned individuals) came forward and joined forces — if only loosely — to champion a common cause. The “coordination” — such as it was — required to run this campaign wasn’t possible even ten year ago, at least not with this level of ease.

Moreover, the very nature of the web as a public arena gives visibility to all sides of an issue, and forces each side to respond to the other with clear arguments and examples of their perspective. It forces people to be civil and considerate, even if only a little bit. It engages people and demands that they defend their perspectives, or at least better explain them.

To me, the YXD closure debate, emotional though it was for both sides, is a shining example to local, provincial and especially federal politicians for how they should behave. And we have people like Mack Male, David MacLean, and Jordan Schroder to thank for that. But more importantly, it represents a new method of engagement, of organization, and way to change things.

Our paths didn’t cross so much between then and now, but Scott and I managed to meet up a few times to discuss launching a podcast. We didn’t know what we were going to call it, we didn’t know what it was going to be about, but we knew we were going to do it. If it killed us or drained us financially (I doubt it will do either, but what’s a good yarn without poverty and death?).

Scott and I met twice over the period of a few weeks to hammer out the details. We decided the focus of the show should be, well, not very focused at all. We would discuss issues relevant to where we live (Edmonton), but that could mean just about anything. That’s the way we want it… a talk-show, with guests, that we find interesting. Our hope is that others will find it interesting as well. That remains to be seen.

Coming up with a name for our baby wasn’t easy. And now I think I know what it’s like to be a parent, minus the 3am feedings, shitty diapers, minimum 18 years of vigilance and discipline… OK I clearly have no idea what I’m talking about if I’m bringing parenting into this.

Still, in order to name our PodBaby (which, now that I think of it, would have been a hilarious name for the show), we enlisted the help of brainstormer extraordinaire, Mr Daryl Hooke. Among the list about about 20 ideas Daryl had, Scott and I really glommed onto “The Unknown Studio.”

So that’s what it’s called. We recorded our first episode at the iNews880 studios (where Scott) works over the weekend, and we’ll produce more, expecting to do one show every two weeks. It was a blast — huge thanks to Brittney Le Blanc, a web editor from iNews, for being our very first guest.

Scott and I are trying to line up more guests, and we have a ton of show ideas… But we could always use more. So if you have an idea for a show, drop some science in the comments section.

And before you leave, make sure you download our first episode!

I spoke with my dear friend @andrealown over Skype tonight about the re-purposing of a blog we created last fall in Toronto, this time with a sharpened focus and eventually visual identity and branding. But that’s not what I want to talk about in this post, because I also met with @scottybomb at Next Act for a beer and a discussion about the creation of a loosely-Edmonton-focused podcast which would feature local guests, and topics that we enjoy and think others will too.

Scott and I had mused about this several tweetups ago, when we had occasion to catch up from our commonly held days at the U of A‘s student newspaper, the Gateway. I’d expressed interested in starting a podcast, and Scott — having had experience producing several — was interested in doing one more consistently and covering his own personal interests.

Then we didn’t really talk about it for a few months.

BUT THEN we started talking about it a few weeks ago, and we were finally able to meet about it tonight. And if the stars align, in the next few weeks, we’ll have launched our inaugural podcast, which we’re hoping will include minor celebrities and other high-larity. But before any of that actually happens, the show needs a name. And we need your help.

We created a shortlist of names, that we certainly aren’t married to. We’d ask you to vote on your favourite, and if you think they all suck, suggest an alternative. Then it’s podcastin’ time!

[polldaddy poll=1691451]

John K Samson on March 20th in Halifax | Photo by Ryan Heise

There are worse ways to spend a Thursday night. My typical Thursday evening involves wine and 30 Rock. But I received a reminder earlier last week that I was meant to attend the Weakerthans concert in Edmonton at the Winspear Centre (on April 23). Two of my dear friends from elemenatary school, some beer, and some music. I didn’t feel bad for missing Liz Lemon and Tracy Jordan’s antics.

The last time I saw the Weakerthans was the last time they played Folk Fest in Edmonton. It was a great live show, mostly because when they played “One Great City!” one of the audience members clearly didn’t get it, stood up, said something to the effect that “Winnipeg rules!” and marched off angrily. It was highly amusing. I was eager to see them at the Winspear, since acoustically and aesthetically, it’s a really amazing space.

The Constantines opened for the Weakerthans on Thursday, but we only caught their last three songs. I never really got into the Constantines, but it was great to hear them live. They even played a song I recognized and like: “Young Lions.” Real wall-of-sound kind of rock. It was pretty cool.

But I went to see the Weakerthans, and when they took the stage, I don’t think I stopped bobbing my head or smiling the whole time. Oh sure, they messed up “Aside,” by singing the second verse first and we were treated to what John K described as the “remixed” version of the song, but it was still a damned solid show.

Mostly, though, I was struck by a profound sense of Canadianness as I sang along to the lyrics. Songs about curling aside, John K’s remarkably adept at capturing ethereal feeling with language, certainly as it relates to life in the flatter parts of Canada. He somehow knits together sentiments with objects, situations and emotions to form an overarching sense of us. Maybe it just works for Prairie-dwellers—or maybe just me—and it maybe felt more profoundly for Manitobans, but there’s a sense of shared experience in his lyrics that’s unshakable. A familiarity that I don’t think even the Tragically Hip captures (but maybe that’s because they’re from Kingston, and I just don’t get what it’s like to be an Ontarian).

As part of their encore, John K played “One Great City!,” which although it’s about Winnipeg, really evokes feelings of what it’s like to be a frustrated, dead-eyed urban-dweller in Edmonton, realizing that in fact things aren’t all that great.

Of course they aren’t all that terrible here either, as evidenced by the fact that we can attract acts like the Weakerthans to one of the most fantastic music halls in Canada.

The only disappointment of the evening: they didn’t play my very favourite Weakerthans song, “A New Name for Everything.”

But I still left the Winspear with a huge smile on my face.

Note: Ryan Heise was kind enough to let me use a photo from a number he’d taken when the Weakerthans rolled through Halifax last month. Sorry I didn’t have an image from the Edmonton show!

The Power Trio with Gord Steinke

Over a year ago, my business partner and I went to an Oilers game, as we sometimes do. It was there, after several crack-powered Rexall beers, that we happened upon Lynda Steele from Edmonton’s Global News. Lynda was selling copies of her book the Laptop Diaries. Having just launched OilersNation.com, we were looking for prizes to give away, and since the proceeds from Lynda’s book went to charity, we thought we’d buy a few and have her autograph them. A few means, like, seven, by the way. I had three left over, and being the random idiot that I am, I decided to give them away today by asking my Twitter followers trivia questions.

This was a truly random endeavour — as most of my Twitter wheelings and dealings are — but I was amazed at the response I got!

The first question I asked was spawned by a YouTube video of an acoustic version of Outkast’s “Hey ya.” I just asked everyone, “What’s cooler than being cool?” and received about 15 responses with “ice cold!”

I decided at that moment that I would give away all three copies of Lynda’s book today.

My next question was formulated with some help. Lynda told me she used to play hockey for the Hinton Jets, and I really wanted to stump people. So for the second book give-away, when I asked which hockey team she used to play for, no one got it. I posted a new question: “Where did Lynda grow up?” This one got lots of fast responses, most of them correct. Lynda was born in Edmonton, and grew up in Hinton. I had a lot of people suggest she grew up in Vancouver as well…

The final question was about Lynda’s co-anchor, Gord Steinke. I’ve always known Gord was a rock ‘n roller, but I haven’t kept up too much with that side of his career. As a final question, I needed Lynda’s help again: “What’s the name of Global News co-anchor Gord Steinke’s band?” This one stumped tweeps as well, so I had to go with a different question: “What US city did Gord work as a reporter/anchor in before coming to ITV in Edmonton?” The answer is: KSTP Minneapolis, which tweeps were able to figure out almost immediately.

Congrats to @seanhealy, @britl and @angelzilla for winning signed copies of Lynda Steele’s “Laptop Diaries” — and by the way, they’re all made out to “OilersNation” Ha! — I’ll arrange to get you your prizes as soon as possible. Thanks for playing! If I happen upon more swag, via beer-fueled NHL games or otherwise, I promise to hold more random contests.

Oh, and I will definitely be treating @adampatterson and @frostedbetty to drinks one of these days…

About a month ago, Nissan Canada undertook a rather unusual marketing strategy for the launch of the Nissan Cube. Rather than access their typical advertising channels — TV spots, radio ads, etc — they set out to do try and build buzz in a rather novel way: entirely by word of mouth. Viral marketing using social media tools like Twitter, Facebook and other social web tools isn’t entirely unusual. However, it’s the scope and scale of this campaign that’s really remarkable.

A good friend of mine, who designed the look and feel of all the Nation websites we’ve developed, found out about Nissan’s “Hypercube” campaign, and decided to sign up just for fun. He created a Twitter account (@ekymson), and filled in his Hypercube profile. At the beginning of the week, Eldon received an email saying that he’d been selected as one of the 500 Hypercube finalists. He now has a 1 in 10 chance of winning a Nissan Cube.

When he first received the email, Eldon wasn’t certain he’d be able to participate, being the busy guy that he is. But a few of us managed to convince him to put his design skills to good use. The hypercube contest asks finalists to create an update a canvas throughout the month. You can see Eldon’s canvas here.

I’ve taken it upon myself to help Eldon get as many votes as possible, to try and get him into the next round, where finalists are judged by people selected by Nissan Canada. I may have even scored Eldon a TV interview for next week. I’ll update when it’s been confirmed.

Please go to the Hypercube website, register and then give Eldon your vote. Let’s see this Hypercube thing through to the end!

Most everything I say, tweet, or write is designed to elicit a specific reaction from people — often shock or laughter. I’m usually quite satisfied. But sometimes I’ll say something without thinking (OK, oftentimes) and the results exceed my expectations or go off in an entirely different direction. That’s what happened this morning on Twitter when I suggested #yeg tweeps create an Edmonton Twitter Boys Calendar for 2010. Yeah, that one went of the rails pretty quickly as people grabbed on to the idea. Before I knew what happened, I was placed in charge of producing the thing.

And now that I think it’s a good idea, I want to do it. But I need your help with some suggestions for how this should work, so please provide me with comments below. We may decide this isn’t feasible. We may decide it is, and just produce PDF copies. Maybe in subsequent years, we can get a company to sponsor us to supplement the money needed to print it. In any event, read on…

We’re going to do a 12-month, 30-box calendar which may or may not get printed. Photographers’ and models’ time will all be donated and the #yeg twitter community will decide where the proceeds should go. I would suggest we print these calendars out, if we can find a good rate someplace from a company who recognizes that crowd-sourced semi-nude, semi-sexy calendars are Always A Good Idea™.

Each month will include one (or possibly more, depending on the response we get) active Tweeps from Edmonton.

Other considerations: who to select as models, how many per month, how to select the models for each month, etc.

Let’s discuss this in the comments below. This is a huge brainstorm at this point so any zany idea goes. And if you’re going to tweet about it, we’re using #yegtwitterboyscalendar as a hashtag. Please broadcast this link far and wide and let’s generate some good discussion!

I use Twitter, currently, on two fronts: for myself as an individual (@bingofuel; also, see the right-hand sidebar for my most recent tweets) and for OilersNation.com (@OilersNation). I’ve found it to be quite a lark for personal stuff, and a really excellent way to find like-minded, interesting people. I’m actually looking forward to the next Edmonton Tweetup (@edmontontweetup), as I felt I was too much of a newbie to attend the last one.

As a personal tool, Twitter connects you with people. People around you, people far away from you. It allows you to filter through broadcasts and read and respond to the things that you deem most relevant. It forces the users to be concise in their messaging (you’re only allowed 140 characters per tweet). I can see its utility as a tool for personal communications and connection to others. As a tool for businesses though—and I’m speaking strictly about my very limited experiences with it for OilersNation.com—I’m not really sure where to begin (and yes, I’ve read Caroline Middlebrook’s Big Juicy Twitter Guide). I’ve used it to broadcast new posts on the Nation’s website that I deem interesting. I’ve used it to broadcast information on contests and such. I’ve even done some very minor live-tweeting of Oilers games. But the key to using Twitter for business, I think, isn’t just sending out promotional information. It’s doing things like what @ComCastCares does: showing the human side of your company or organization. Here’s one of the key things I took from the Big Juicy Twitter Guide:

“[...] if you are approaching this from a purely business perspective then you need to have something to offer your customers. What I mean is, if you use your Twitter account to just pitch, pitch, pitch, you will not get many followers. Twitter is not something that can be effectively used as a direct selling medium without adding extra benefits [...]“

Businesses using Twitter should be doing so to try and start or continue one-on-one discussions with their clients. Twitter brings organizations into the fray of communicating with users who might have an interest in their brand or product. It’s really neat how people and businesses are finding new ways to use the system to get the message out — or, in @ComCastCares’ case, bring the message in and do something about it.

I <3 Twitter. And I know I’ll have a hell of a lot more to say about it as I convince a few clients to start using it to get the word out.

Fortunately, there are many on both sides of the spectrum who are crying out against McCain’s choice for running mate. One such person is Michael Seitzman from the Huffington Post. His recent post on Palin was brief, smart, and basically makes all the right points. To wit:

Now, I want to be clear and speak directly to those of you who LOVED that Palin interview. You’re an idiot. I mean that. This is not one of those cases where we’re going to agree to disagree. This isn’t one of those situations where we debate it passionately and then walk away thinking that the other guy is wrong but argued well. I’m not going to think of you as a thoughtful but misguided person with different ideas who still really cares about the country and the world. No, sorry, not this time. This time, if you watched that interview and weren’t scared out of your freakin’ mind, then you’re mentally ill, mentally disabled, or mentally disturbed. What you are NOT is responsible, informed, curious, thoughtful, mature, educated, empathetic, or remotely serious. I mean it.

The morning at Bonilla was cold, and wet. Today we would push ourselves. A discussion at some point that morning brought us to the realization: we eat too much. Or rather, the food we’d planned to bring wasn’t lasting us as we thought. We needed energy, and lots of it, to clear the next 27km. Hiking this thing in ten days, as originally planned, wasn’t going to happen if we were expecting to eat at all the last few days. So on Day 6 from Bonilla point, we would hike 11km to Cullite Creek, if we didn’t feel like killing ourselves when we arrived at Walbran campground, only about 5km down the trail.

We hiked the soft, wet sand along the trail to Vancouver point, just as the tide made our way on the beach impassible. We made for the overland trail: damp roots, high steps, wetness.

I recall this part of the trail being tough and discouraging. Just endless up and down. We came across about a dozen hikers who all said the stay at Walbran would be lovely. But we’d arrive there by late morning, and staying the day wouldn’t work with our food supply. We stayed at Walbran for a snack. It was a lovely camp ground, though, pushed slightly inland and defended by tall rock sentries at either end of the beach. We checked out the Walbran Creek “office” before we continued  down the overland trail, past Logan Creek and up to Cullite, which would end up being miserably cold and windy.

This part of the trail is best summarized photographically with roots, overland boardwalk and exhaustion due to cable car:

And so when we arrived at Cullite, we hunkered down for the night. Tomorrow, Day 7, would be our last full day on the trail, and we were soon to learn, the most challenging section of our hike yet. There would be a lot of snapping at one another, grunting, and constant use of words beginning with “f”. I’m going to leave Days 7 & 8 for the next installment of “The Wet Coast is the Best Coast.”

>> see also:

• Days 0 & 1
• Days 2 & 3
• Days 4 & 5

It’s hard to leave a place you completely fall in love with. It’s hard, knowing you might not ever see a place again. That was my struggle to leave Tsusiat Falls the morning of our fourth day. We spent two days in this magical place, where a rush of fresh water tumbled into a small pool, which eventually meandered its way into the Pacific Ocean. But we had to leave. The reason for our journey wasn’t to stay, but to carry on and hike all 75 kilometresof the West Coast Trail.

We awoke at about 5am, the sun barely a glimmer on the horizon. The steady sound of the falls played us through our morning routine: a jump across Tsusiat creek to the other side of the beach, to the composting toilets. Wash up, pack the tent, roll up the sleeping bags, eat. We needed to leave before the tide climbed above 2.1 metres, otherwise we’d have to hike the overland trail and miss the incredible sight that is the Hole in the Wall at Tsusiat Point.

As we hiked out of the site, crouching beneath massive pieces of driftwood I cried, something I couldn’t believe I was doing. I cried because I knew it would be many many years before I would see this place again, wade through the cool, fresh water, sit on a rocky stump and watch the grey whales breach way off in the distance. Julia looked puzzled, but the glint in her eye told me she understood how I felt. In a perfect world, we’d have made our lives here, greeting hikers and saying goodbye to them as they passed through the campsite to conquer the trail.

We said goodbye to Tsusiat at about 6am and headed toward the Point, stepping past the footprints of three hikers who’d left earlier than we had.

The hike to the Hole in the Wall was about two kilometres, made easy by a soaked beach which supported us and the weight of our packs. We were treated to the sights of eagles perched on rocky outcroppings, and the zooming past of fishermen’s boats anchoring themselves off the shore and fishing for halibut in the cool, rough waters.

When we arrived at Hole in the Wall, we knew we’d made the right choice by suffering an early-morning wake up. We passed through a giant rock hole, around which the water lapped furiously into the sand and rock, splashing mist upon us. In the distance, a sentry eagle watched schools of unseen fish swim past. He was gathering his strength for the day’s hunt.

We walked fast through the overland trail after we left the beach, through damp forest and Aboriginal reserve land to a tidal lake called Nitinat. Nitinat Narrows are too deep to wade, the current too strong. We waited for a boat to come and take us to the other side. When it finally did, after only a fifteen minute wait, we managed a quick rest before we trudged through the bog on the other side. Boardwalks were half-buried and broken along the way, and our gaiters barely kept our socks dry. But the mud slowed and tired us. By the time we mounted a cliff overlooking the ocean, we were beat. And we still had another seven kilometres before we could stop.

On our way through the bog and up the dirt paths, we met a group of hikers being followed by a dog named Charlie Parker (we weren’t to discover his name until the next day, so we just called him Dexter). Charlie met up with us at the end of the day, at Cribs Creek campground. He spent much of the evening walking up the beach with us. When he grew bored, he set off further down the trail. We wouldn’t see Charlie again on our journey.

Day 5

Another early morning on Day 5, as we attempted to beat the hot sun. This day, it wouldn’t matter as we would be covered by cloud with the threat of rain all day. This would be an easier day for us, though. Not covering 16 kilometres, like the previous day. This was a day of grace, not unlike our two-day stay at Tsusiat. But the eight kilometres we would cover this day wouldn’t be easy, as the lack of sun contributed to a subdued mood.

From Cribs Creek, we made our way about two kilometres to a point on the beach leading into the overland trail via a series of ladders, rather than concern ourselves with a great deal MORE stairs and ladders at the base of the Carmanah Point Lighthouse. This bit of forest hiking was damp, full of roots and technical stepping, which made for some exhausting going. When we arrived at Carmanah, we took a few photos, mused about what it must be like to live and work at a lighthouse on the trail (according to the board posted at the entrance to the lighthouse grounds, living there is nothing short of “awesome”) and kept going.

About one kilometre after the lighthouse, we found ourselves at Chez Monique, a makeshift home belonging to Monique, who’s lived on the trail for around 19 years. She’s argued long and hard with the government to stake her claim on the West Coast Trail, and she is appreciated by hikers wandering along the trail from both directions. She offers gourmet hamburgers and delicious breakfasts (including beer) for a hefty price. Julia and I could only afford a chocolate bar each.

It turns out Charlie Parker belonged to Monique. He wanders up and down the trail and only comes home when he gets hungry. This is complicated by the fact that hikers will often feed him (not us, though. We didn’t have a bit of food to spare). After a quick stop and a refresh of our supplies we continued down to Bonilla Point, home of a lovely waterfall and tiny campground. We arrived at about 1pm, and made camp. Then slept till dinner. We needed to catch up after so many early mornings. We met up with Sandy and Kat while we were there, but they were on their way further down the trail. So we used their tree branch to hang our food and provisions. Sleep. That was our priority.

>> see also:

• Days 0 & 1
• Days 2 & 3

Stone on meeting then governor Bush at a Republican breakfast: ”I wanted to prove that even though people thought I was a leftist I wanted to hear what they had to say. The minute I walked in the room the sound of the silverware kind of died. People were like, ‘What’s he doing here? Satan has walked in.’ But I met George Bush and I remember thinking that this man was going to be president.”

We decided that in order to maintain a decent schedule of walking—to be able to arrive at our campsite with a decent enough amount of daylight left to set up camp, eat, and clean up—we would need to wake up early. Like, around 6 or 7am. Since we’d just spent our first night on the trail, we were running, ah, a little late.

The “sleep” that first night was rather furtive for me. I had visions of mice chewing my new tent to pieces. Most anyone offering advice about the trail won’t tell you how to survive a bear or cougar attack. But they will tell you that if you have anything in your tent that smells remotely interesting, a mouse will find its way inside (usually by chewing a hole through the tent wall) in order to get to it. All I could hear all night was their scurrying and squeaking. I would often clear my throat or shift in my sleeping bag to discourage their invasion.

We were greeted that morning by a lovely sunrise and a cool breeze. Breakfast up, tent down, packs packed. Some bickering (actually, considering the ways in which you rely on your partner on trips such as these, there was surprisingly little arguing), and then onwards. We would need to make 13km in order to get to Tsusiat Falls, the most stunning campground on the trail.

The hike wasn’t too bad, initially. We even made friends with some Canadian Naval Officers who took a trip to the WCT at the last minute. Sandy and Kat (I think her name was Kat… I missed it!) were a great pair to bump into every so often along the way—very friendly, and often helpful.

The last kilometre of the day was brutal. We arrived at the top of Tsusiat Falls which was fairly technically difficult (a lot of stump jumping) and included a pretty dramatic increase in elevation. Once at the top of the falls, our journey upwards continued. It was frustrating. A lot of high-stepping and using our trekking poles to haul ourselves atop tall ledges. When we finally crested the maximum elevation, we were greeted by a series of about four tall ladders down to the beach. Neither of us was particularly thrilled with the last 30 minutes of our hike.

But once we stepped off the boardwalk and onto the sand, everything changed. Fine sand interspersed with massive hunks of driftwood and the tents of already-arrived hikers dotted the landscape. The ocean stretched out in front of us, broken up by points of rock and the vague shadows of the US mountains to the southwest.

All of this, of course, was completely dwarfed by the roar of the Falls themselves. Huge, wide, fresh-water chutes drained into a waist-deep pond, which in turn drained into the ocean. At its most crass, Tsusiat is a place to shower. At its most romantic, it’s the most awesome place on the Trail. The photos we took hardly do it justice.

We set up camp next to Kat and Sandy. We ate dinner with Jeff and Cheryl. Before bed, we decided we weren’t going to leave in the morning. Tsusiat was too beautiful to just be an overnight campground.

Day 3

This time, the mice made their mark. (This would be the first and only time on the trail that they would cause us any problems. And given the few horror stories we’d heard about holes in packs and missing food, I think we came out of things rather well.) My beautiful new tent had tiny bite and claw marks on the sides and rear screens of the tent. I was not a happy camper. But my soaring spirit couldn’t be deterred.

It was around 9 or 10 when we crawled out of bed. Cheryl and Jeff came by to bid us farewell. They were only going to be on the trail for seven days, and we were scheduled for ten. We could afford to languish, and they couldn’t. We knew them for a brief few days, but it was still sad to see them go, knowing the chances of us catching them on the trail were minimal.

Sandy and Kat left as well. Those two were movers and shakers. Sad to see them leave too, but we’d meet up with them several more times in our travels, so no worries.

With all of the other campers on their ways up and down the trail above the falls, we were left to do our own thing for the whole day. There were only two other people at the site with us. So we showered, explored the beach and some caves, and just hung out in the sun. It was a nice break from two days of straight hiking. It was great to wander around in sandals the whole time.

We planned to leave early in the morning (5am!) on Day 4, to beat the rising tide at the Hole In The Wall point, about two kilometres up the beach. I’ll tell you all about how I cried in the next post.

>> see also:

• Days 0 & 1
• Days 4 & 5

What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure.

[...] Failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.

I snagged this text from a post at Boing Boing. As far as commencement speeches go, JK Rowling’s is one that resonates with me the most: failure is something that once prevented me from pursuing the thing I wanted to. It’s hard to be courageous, especially when you feel the weight of expectation upon you. And while I didn’t need to hit rock bottom, as Rowling did, to pull up my boots, I’ve had my share of pitfalls in this short lifetime. Everyone does.

Rowling also speaks of the power of imagination, and not just of the kind that conjure best-seller fiction novels. She talks of her experiences working with Amnesty International, and how it helped to shape her:

If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped transform for the better. We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.

Read the whole speech here.

I grew up with two brothers. The group dynamics of three boys in a five-person family are complicated to say the least. But we weren’t slouches. We knew who buttered our bread, and we also knew the best ways to get things out of our parents: get the youngest child to ask them.

My little brother had this supernatural power of getting my parents to agree to ridiculous things. My older brother and I caught on to this. Consequently, when we figured we were in need of something as simple as Dairy Queen Blizzards, a Nintendo, or a new car, little brother would have the unenviable task of asking for—and somehow receiving—the object of his (or our) desire.

If our household was a country, it would have been Canada—run by some older folks who had some, but certainly not a complete, understanding of the behaviour of their progeny (let’s call us kids provinces, then). I was exceedingly relaxed as a kid. Didn’t really get worked up about anything. Was contented to enjoy the clouds drifting by and languish in just being. I guess that makes me British Columbia.

My older brother was far more uptight. He would answer only when asked, would worry about niggling details and minutae of life, and watch a lot of hockey. Let’s call him Ontario.

My little brother, then, who always got his way whether it was fair or not, could probably be called Quebec. He could get Mum and Dad to agree to anything, and in my eyes at least, he never got into trouble. I blazed the trail for doing bad things. I was punished. And he just got to do bad things while my parents tsk-tsked at him, patted him on the bottom, gave him $20 and told him to stay out of more trouble.

Now that we’re older, the playing field is far more level. Big bro still worries, little bro is far more self-sufficient, and I’m living in Alberta… wishing I was in BC.

But if you look at the actual Nation of Canada, in spite of the fact that the provinces are older and potentially wiser, Quebec is still behaving like a spoiled youngest child, making noise about how it’s special and should get the things it wants as a result. To wit, this piece from the Globe and Mail:

Daniel Turp has started a petition to convince the ICANN, the international authority responsible for Internet domain names, to create an extension that would be unique to websites in Quebec.

Mr. Turp says one way to identify a nation is for it to have its own web extensions and that if his efforts are successful, Quebeckers would use the extension .qc.

I used to buy into the Quebec as a distinct society thing. But the fact that one speaks a different language is not in and of itself adequate to give a group of people a mark of distinction. Quebec operates under French common law. OK, that’s distinctive, I guess. But where does one draw the line? Beyond a certain point (and I certainly think we’re beyond it), all of this becomes petty nonsense. A good point was made in the discussion section of this article:

S Roddick from Ottawa, Canada writes: The last time I looked at a map of Canada, Quebec was still there. If Daniel Turp really thinks that International Standards Organization is going to agree with that he’s out to lunch. It requires that the Root DNS servers be updated for it. Not that I think that that is impossible but if one state, province, territory or district gets one why can’t all of them… Do you really know how many individual subdivisions of countries there are in the world. There are 83 states, 10 provinces, 2 federal districts and 17 territories in North America alone. That’s 112 entries for North America and 195 country entries. If Mr. Turp wants to get the domain names set up for this that’s ok, but I doubt he will get exclusive access to them for Quebec. [snip]

I know squat about the technical implications of adding a .qc domain to root DNS servers, but “S Roddick” makes an interesting point. What’s good for the goose should be good for the gander.

The whole situation reminds me of an old O Henry commercial where two Inuit are sitting out in the Arctic cold. One of them is enjoying a chocolate bar, and when his cohort asks him if he can have some, he’s told: “If I give one to you, I have to give one to everybody else.”

Whereas this ad contained only two actors, Quebec’s move affects internet users/companies/denizens/whoever the world over. Maybe instead of bickering over petty nonsense like this, Quebec’s government should be worrying about the real economic and social issues affecting its people. If I were in Quebec, I’d have grown tired of this whinging a long time ago.

And I’m supposed to be all chilled out like BC…

Also, congratulations to me on my 100th post!

Does this mean we’ll get to see all the Bluths do their chicken impressions on the big screen? I can only hope!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl7YHXHC7us]

Biking in heels and a dress is not atrocious. In my northern Canadian city it may be rare, but stylish women need to stop running to the car every time they need to get somewhere, and start thinking about how they navigate the city of Edmonton.

Take a clue from other cities with flourishing bike cultures. Beauty and cycling do not have to be at odds. It’s not just a sport, it’s how you choose to get around. Do not compromise your style, and start pedaling.

As I grapple with the best way to bike to work without being a sweaty mess, it’s good to know people like Sarah are doing their part to encourage more sustainable behaviour. The people of this city are married to their cars. I’m pleased to say that every time I climb into trusty old Chloe, I feel a pang of guilt.

So although I’m not a girl, I’m behind Sarah’s call to spokes: ditch the car. Take a few extra minutes to ride your bike to wherever you’re going. It’ll save you money in the long-term, and you’ll have a minimal impact on the environment.

Welcome to the blogosphere, Sarah.

The problem is not just the things we do not know (consider the one in five American adults who, according to the National Science Foundation, thinks the sun revolves around the Earth); it’s the alarming number of Americans who have smugly concluded that they do not need to know such things in the first place. Call this anti-rationalism — a syndrome that is particularly dangerous to our public institutions and discourse. Not knowing a foreign language or the location of an important country is a manifestation of ignorance; denying that such knowledge matters is pure anti-rationalism.

>> read more…

Having been back on the social network for under a week, I’m finding myself far less motivated to participate as much as I had before. Facebook is a communications tool for me. It’s not an ERP that will help launch my career, organize my life, or do my dishes. Nor is it a gaming platform, or a place for me to publish my interests to the masses. That’s what this blog is for, and I have much more control over how Pseudo Psyence behaves. Thus I will treat Facebook as a diversion.

I realize that when I disabled and zapped my account, Facebook likely kept all my demographic information, so really there’s nothing to hide from. But I won’t provide the network with more fodder so I can be advertised to. The irony is that I’m working with partners right now to develop a software application that will serve ads based upon users’ personal information. I will happily use this system, because it provides significantly more value than Facebook, and we’re designing it so it will never spam anyone ever.

Like, ever.

So welcome back to Facebook, me. You swore you’d never return, but you realized after a fashion that it’s better to be a part of the system and to analyze its failings from within than to not participate at all. Sounds like an excuse, doesn’t it?

Then colour me excused.

If you have a second, peep Paulcasts.com.

My discovery of Paul’s new website was prompted by something I’ll be writing about later on today or tomorrow: I’m back on Facebook. Stay turned for a list of reasons and excuses.

Andersen is a single mother living in Oregon who was sued by the record labels in February 2005. She eventually filed a counterclaim against the RIAA, and when the labels voluntarily dismissed their case against her last June, she filed a malicious-prosecution lawsuit. In it, Andersen accuses the RIAA of fraud, racketeering, invasion of privacy, libel, slander, deceptive business practices, and violations of the Oregon state RICO Act.

Last month, a federal judge dismissed Andersen’s original complaint, saying that she had “not adequately stated claims for relief,” but gave her a one-month window to refile. Her attorney, Lory Lybeck, told Ars that he plans to file a new 80-page complaint tomorrow. “The focus of the amended complaint is essentially the sham litigation and abuse of the federal judiciary to operate this criminal enterprise that has harmed Tanya Andersen and thousands of other people,” Lybeck said.

>> read more…

We can’t rely on the authorities to defend us against attacks that outstrip their capacity to adapt to them. Remember, the same police force that’s plastering London with signs exhorting us to “let experienced officers decide what action to take” is the same police force that gunned down a Brazilian for wearing an overcoat, and shut down Soho when a Thai restaurant burned its chilli sauce, releasing spicy smoke.

Security literacy can only be acquired through continuous practice and evaluation. The more our society punishes those who question security, the less secure we all become.

>> read more…

[Yesterday's] release of Bully: Scholarship Edition on the Wii and Xbox 360 has a group of teachers up in arms over developer Rockstar Games’ attempts to market violence.

While all Rockstar releases generate some amount of controversy, this latest spat is most notable for the fact that the title already generated almost identical controversy when it was initially released on the PlayStation 2 in Oct. 2006.

Now, we all agree that bullying sucks. But these groups getting up in arms over a videogame will do nothing except maybe get a bit of publicity.

These groups MUST focus their energy on attacking root causes to solve bullying problems in schools. They will never be able to prevent Rockstar from making violent videogames, nor should they. It’s up to parents to monitor what kinds of vids their kids are playing, TV shows they’re watching, ill shit they’re getting involved in, all to ensure that the little douches don’t turn into complete assholes.

I still have qualms with the privacy implications of the system, and whether or not I want people to know what I’m up to, but there are ways around that. Scotty, my roommate, isn’t on Facebook either, but he said he’s thinking of signing up. “I’ve boycotted it long enough,” he told me this afternoon. “It’s become inconvenient to not be on it.”

But there are, of course, other more complicated reasons that make me think I should stay away. Stupid as it may sound, the big one is pride. The I-told-you-sos I expect to have lobbed at me are plentiful. I would probably NYAH someone was well, if they returned with their tail between their legs. I know a few people who’ve left and comeback: Jorge and Fish come to mine. But I cannot seem to fully buy in to being easily connected to people again.

I’m going to think about it over the next few weeks, but I know that as people leave for the summer, Facebook will enable me to stay connected. And I’ve noticed already there are some people with whom I’m not longer speaking simply because it isn’t convenient.

I should probably feel worse about what that says about my laziness than about people saying “I told you so.”

My experience in airport security line conversations over the years is that everyone who takes a moment to turn three or four neurons’ worth of attention to the much-hated liquids policy comes to exactly the same conclusion: if it takes, say, 20 ounces of bomb juice to blow up an airplane, then you can just send two terrorists with 10 ounces of bomb juice each on board, and they can combine their bomb juice to make a 20-ounce bomb. So why the seemingly idiotic limits on the amount of liquids in my carry-on bag? And why, if I’m in the security line with a bottle of water or a cup of coffee, can’t I just drink some of it to demonstrate that it is not, in fact, bomb juice?

Three years after that, and I still have the print. I’ll never lose it:

Looking for meaning? Aren’t we all:

Frog is often associated with copper and great wealth. Legendary Haida princes are said to have attended feasts wearing necklace chains made of living Frogs. The Haida carved Frog on house pole to prevent them from falling over. They also included them in many other carvings, from feast bowls to totem poles.

EDIT: There, Andy. Now you’ve seen it.

I’ve always been enamoured of this symbol. When hiking was a weekend ritual for me a few years back, I would create one along the way, or at the terminal end of a hike to signify my having been there. Fitting, then, that the word inukshuk translates to “substitute for a person.”

Inuksuit differ from some cairns in significance. The Arctic Circle, dominated by permafrost, has few natural landmarks and thus the inuksuk was central to navigation across the barren tundra.

Inuksuit vary in shape and size, and perform a diverse array of tasks. It is a symbol with deep roots in the Inuit culture, a directional marker that signifies safety, hope and friendship.

(from Wikipedia)

After all, who would you rather trust to get your important project done? The person with the great hair and coordinating accessories (shoes, necklace and purse) who was thoughtful enough to detail to make it all match or the person who shows up to work in sweatpants and their college sweatshirt who couldn’t get it together long enough to put on a decent pair of pants before leaving the house?

- From “To Dress or Not to Dress“

I have to admit to sharing some (most?) of her views on dress code. Incidentally, she’s now on the blogroll.

About six months ago, I worked for another subsidiary of the parent company I currently work for. Call it GasCo. I’m now at ElectricCo.

While at GasCo, I would frequently whinge about the dress code: the expectation was that you would always wear a tie (for the men, anyhow), and there was no such thing as casual Friday. When I started at ElectricCo, I lauded their relaxed dress code… until I saw some people wearing crew-cut sweatshirts with stains on them and dirty jeans. It occurred to me that this simply wasn’t right.

I had a conversation with my boss about this. She reminded me that people are judged by how they dress, and she suggested people should dress “how they want to be paid.” You want to be paid a six-figure income? Dress the part, buddy-boy (or buddy-lady).

I actually enjoy wearing nice business attire to work, so it wasn’t too much of a stretch for me. But for the first week, everyone kept asking me if I had a job interview, which speaks volumes of the corporate culture at ElectricCo. Still, one day when I’m running my own company full-time, I’ll dress relaxed: jeans and a sport coat, Hank Scorpio-style!

So, this guy’s pissed at his roommate for ditching out on his share of the rent, and then dropping $300 on a copy of Rock Band. Some people’s children…

First of all, yes I know this falls in the really mean category and yes I know they’re supposed to really be hard to come by, but you’d be this pissed too. I can understand paying for plane ticket to see fam during Christmas, but dropping $300 on a video game while skipping out on his share of the rent during a really expensive time?!?!?! WTF?

Well payback’s a byatch. I will consider this as the December rent. Highest bidder gets a PS3 Rock Band Special Edition. Comes with drums, a guitar, and a mic apparently. I need this done by next week, for obvious reasons.

Yes it’s been opened and he played for two hours before having to leave for the airport. But Mr. Anal actually packed it away because he didn’t want anyone else playing it while he was gone. *Are you kidding me? At least it saves me the trouble.

Oh and if you’re reading this, consider this your last payment. To everyone else, have a happy holidays.

(Thanks Andy!)

Time for me to chime in.

I work in Edmonton as a software developer. I have consulted for many various business and government entities. I have seen first hand how the “open source” movement has fostered and allowed innovation for the products I deliver to these entities. In this “remix” mindset, productivity for everyone in my industry has improved drastically over the last few years. I have contributed to and developed open source software myself. There are personal benefits. I have used my work on these projects on my resume, to gain experience, and network with others.

I feel that as our society closes itself off around the copyright issue, we loose this innovation capacity. This mindset of sharing, remixing, building on others’ work is key to furthering our industry and heritage. When we lock down with copyright, we claim we are doing it to promote competition, but instead it stifles it. I have also seen in my industry many bullying cases where the “big guys” can easily close down other amazingly innovative ideas because they have the lawyers and money, all using copyright and DMCA-style takedown notices.

For a magazine to equate this cause as left, or communist or pop-Trotskyite is insane. This fosters competition. It builds industry. I have seen more innovative bands (music) outside the big labels than I have inside. These are the ones that want others to hear their music, and art, and what they do for the real reason. They get compensated for what they are doing but not as much as what they have done.

Everyone builds on what others have done. As the cost of making digital copies approaches zero, we should hail this time in history as a triumph. We are not thieves, we are champions. Champions of a new way of thinking. Build and share digital works and recognize the author. The author builds this portfolio and gets compensated for new work because people/business want to use the industry leaders, not the industry protectionists.

It’s a fantastic blend of grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon 54%, Merlot 30%, Syrah 11%, Malbec 3%, Franc 2%, and awesome for just sipping while you blog in front of your computer.

This young lady (now added to the blogroll) eats out a lot, and takes really excellent pictures of the things she and her friends eat. Here’s a sample of her photography This is a photo from the Capo website:

She’s basically an unpaid restaurant reviewer, and I love reading her posts. You will too. And if you’re looking for a place to eat just about anywhere in the world, see if she’s been there first.

Another member of a professorial mailing list I’m on asked whether Facebook may have violated the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988. Nicknamed the “Bork Bill” (a newspaper published his video rental records during his confirmation hearings), the VPPA protects your privacy in the videos you rent and buy. Well, guess what? One of Facebook’s Beacon partners was Blockbuster, so some of the items that wound up in people’s news feeds were the names of videos they’d bought. Oops.

I dug a bit into the legalities of the issue, and this is roughly what I came up with: Facebook and Blockbuster should hunker down and prepare for the lawsuits. Their recent move to allowing a global opt-out may cut them off from accruing further liability, but there’s probably an overhang of damages facing them from their past mistakes. I should note that this isn’t my usual area of law, so salt the analysis appropriately. Caselaw on the VPPA is thin, but there might be other rules of information privacy law out there that would significantly change the bottom line.

From Crackle: Mr. Deity and the Evil – Season 1, Ep 1

But, like Andy said, it won’t be easy. Read/WriteWeb agrees:

There is a myth floating around that contextual advertising is going to help Facebook justify its $15 billion valuation. The myth goes something like this: because Facebook knows everything about us, it will always be able to serve perfect ads. However, the reality is more like the following:

• Facebook does not know much about us
• The data that Facebook has is not structured
• People are not coming to Facebook to click ads

Like the author says, monetizing the beast isn’t impossible, and there’s certainly a team of bright folks running the FB show. The next few years will be very interesting on the social networking tip.

Every time I wander into a liquor store planning to buy beer or some equally blue-collar potable, I end up walking away with two bottles of wine: one red, one white.

I did this yesterday. I bought some Alexander Keith’s… And a bottle of House Wine (a blend of many reds, totally out-of-this-world good), as well as a South African Viogner called Fairview which I haven’t tried yet (you’ll all learn soon enough I’m really into Viogners when it comes to white wine).

Oh, I also bought a bottle of Merlot the other day. I don’t really like Merlot, but it was the only red available at the store from the, get this, Wayne Gretzky Estates Winery. I think myself and the fellas over at www.oilernation.com will likely buy a few more bottles of the stuff and judge it.

Even though those blue-collar shills only really like beer.

“Given the controversy related to the book, the district will not promote and/or use it to support instructional and/or literacy development pending additional information and initial review,” said a Nov. 29 memo to schools from Ms. MacKay’s office.

“At the same time, since bans and censoring tend to draw increased attention to the potentially inappropriate materials, a course of quiet non-participation is recommended.”

What they’re reviewing is a supposed anti-faith stance the book has. But the school board is missing the point: and the point is education. I’m aware that they are a Catholic school board, but they must decide what is most important. Is it more important to educate youngsters so they can make their way in the world (a world replete with multiple religions and worldviews), or is it more important to ensure that these kids remain Catholic, and never question their views or their faith? The key is balance – in both directions.

I think the primary function of the board should be to instill Catholic values in children while providing them with the most well-rounded education, and the most informed educational rubric, as possible. Hiding something potentially controversial from kids is exactly the wrong way to deal with it. Teachers could use the trilogy to show students a differing world view, outlining what makes the books atheistic and how a member of the Catholic faith might have approached the situations found in the books differently.

The school board is missing an opportunity to teach children something. Instead, they’re trying to pull the wool over their eyes. It’s a knee-jerk reaction that ultimately benefits no one.

I, personally, am a sucker for gadgets. I know some girls who like purses. Some people like shoes. I like watches. And anything made by the wizards at Apple. But that’s not the point. I also really dig watches. I own three, and I want more. My latest acquisition was the Biohazard Watch from Tokyoflash. It was only about CAD $150, and even though you need to do math to decode the time, it’s an incredible conversation piece:

This thing made it to me, direct from Japan, in five business days. Which is really unreal. The Japanese know how to do online commerce. Nineteen shopping days before Christmas. Maybe you know someone who needs a really awesome watch?

You remember the old story about the frog placed in a pot of water that was slowly heated up, until it was cooked? When I read the about Facebook’s reaction to the anti-Beacon protests, my first impression is that Facebook’s concessions are essentially along the lines of, “OK, we turned up the heat a bit too much on this one, so we’ll turn it back down a little bit–for now.” Are marketers counting on the fact that we’ll get used to the warm bath, then the hot tub, calibrating their fine-tuned ability to stop just short of the lobster pot?

Moreover, while the web allows a largely indiscriminate flow of information, which has benefitted millions, certainly, the door swings both ways. And what little information I’ve been able to glean and share about my friends and acquaintances (willingly or not) during my short stint on Facebook (about a year), I’m growing old and curmugeonly, and am far less interested in what some douche from grade school is up to these days than I might have been a few months ago.

Ultimately, I just don’t feel comfortable with the lack of transparency around what Facebook is up to. If they were just straight and honest with their users, I might stick around. But right now, the risk of having my personal info up there, surrounded by all the uncertainly with what’s happening with that info, is unsettling.

I’ll just stick to emailing my close friends, thanks.

Snippet from Michael’s blog:

7.   The Conservative Party of Canada pledged to “eliminate the levy on blank recording materials” in its 2005 policy declaration.  Why has that pledge been abandoned?  Similarly, the 2005 policy declaration stated that “the Conservative Party believes that reasonable access to copyright works is a critical necessity for learning and teaching for Canadian students and teachers, and that access to copyrighted materials enriches life long learning and is an essential component of an innovative economy.”  Why has the party abandoned this position with copyright reform that will make it more difficult for teachers and students to access copyright materials?

A snippet:

Easy profits ended up blinding the industry to the threat of MP3s. Throughout the ’90s, a handful of insiders warned of the need to get out in front of digital music, but for the most part they were ignored. The big corporations that had snapped up record labels in the ’80s and ’90s continued to focus on short-term financial results, even as it become [sic] amply clear that the advantages of CDs — control, convenience, durability, flexibility — were even more pronounced with digital files. “There’s this mentality of always needing to make the numbers for the next quarter,” says Ted Cohen, a former exec at EMI and Warner Bros., now managing partner at the consulting firm TAG Strategic. “It kept me up at night. Some of us could see that something needed to be done, but no one wanted to do anything that wouldn’t maximize profit for that quarter.”

First Coca-Cola jumped ship (though it’s not really clear how the Coke deal would work; every time I buy a soda from a vending machine people on my newsfeed will know? And they’ll know I’m drinking—gasp!—vanilla coke? Sweet shit!). Then Overstock. Now it sounds like Travelocity is getting the fuck out of Dodge.

How could Zuckerberg not have seen this? Duh. He’s surrounded himself with a group of people hell-bent on monetizing a largely useless web service. Yes it brings people together and allows them to share photos and wall posts. Then what? Yeah, exactly. That’s what big Z and his cronies are struggling with right now. They sit in the Barad-dûr penthouse, right beneath the eye of Sauron, smack dab in the centre of Mordor, and wouldn’t you know it? They’ve completely lost touch with the most important part of the entire Facebook network: the user.

The concept of social networks, as codified in web 2.0 format, is fairly new. And it’s easy to lose sight of what Facebook was trying to do in the first place (connect people better than MySpace or Friendster ever could), especially when they have a team of billion-dollar investors demanding to know just how the hell Z-berg’s going to make money.

Meanwhile, you have a bunch of mouth-breathers willing to fork over the most mundane and questionable details about their piddly little lives, and it seems like it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to invade their privacy just a touch more. But Facebook isn’t a Legion of Idiots. Some deeply intelligent people use it as well. To play Scrabulous.
And stalk their girlfriends.

And we… uh, I mean, those people are worried about privacy. They use Facebook out of necessity. Because everyone else does. Just like everyone else uses the telephone. It’s not that these people love Facebook. Some of them eventually grow to resent it, and abandon their accounts. But those who don’t have taken it upon themselves to protect the aforementioned mouth-breathers from their own feeblemindedness.

That’s where groups like Moveon.org come in. These excellent people fought the good fight and called to task the creators of Beacon and their Facebook progenitors. They pointed out some of the fatal flaws inherent in the application, and companies like Coke and Overstock took notice.

At its most basic, this means that Facebook friends in your network won’t be able to find out what you got them for Christmas. And it’s more important, it means people’s privacy will be violated only if they want it to be.

James Barber, best known to Canadian cooking enthusiasts as the Urban Peasant, died suddenly at his farm in Duncan, BC on Thursday, November 29, 2007 at the ripe old age of 84.

His legacy, [Barber's wife] said, would be the lives he’s changed for the better. “People came up to him all the time and told him that. He couldn’t go out without people coming up and saying that. I think he made people feel that they could do things they didn’t realize they could. He did it with his enthusiasm and passion. People would think they couldn’t cook, that it was a chore but he made it a pleasure.”

A snippet from Michael’s post:

The unfortunate reality is that there is nothing can be done about what the bill will look like when it is introduced – Industry Minister Jim Prentice has simply decided discard consumer, education, research, and privacy interests, ignore his own party’s policy platform, and the cave into U.S. pressure.  Once the bill is introduced, however, Canadians can send a message to their MPs, the Ministers, and others, calling for a fair copyright bill that addresses Canadian concerns (those in Calgary can do so in person on December 8th as Prentice hosts an open house).